Missing Ben disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991

The mother of Ben Needham, who vanished from the Greek island of Kos in 1991, says she has been contacted by a woman convinced her boyfriend is the missing tot. Picture: PA
The mother of Ben Needham, who vanished from the Greek island of Kos in 1991, says she has been contacted by a woman convinced her boyfriend is the missing tot.

Ben Needham, 21 months old, was last seen playing outside his grandparents’ farmhouse before he vanished from the Greek island of Kos on July 24, 1991.

In a new revelation, Kerry Needham, 53, told reporters that she had been contacted by a woman who was convinced her boyfriend could be missing Ben.

Mum-of-two Kerry told The Sun that she was keeping an open mind about the disappearance, but did admit that several tip-offs over the years had not been forthcoming.

Kerry told the newspaper: “I keep a very, very open mind.”

Ben Needham, 21 months old, was last seen playing outside his grandparents’ farmhouse before he vanished from the Greek island of Kos on July 24, 1991. Picture: PA

“When I got that email last night, I didn’t jump for joy and think this could be him, because I’ve got no photograph, I’ve got very little information.

“The woman just said there are a lot of coincidences, a lot of things don’t add up from his past.”

She confirmed that she had passed the information on to South Yorkshire Police, who had been leading the search for Ben on the British side since he vanished.

The force is now planning a new DNA test to see if the man is indeed the missing boy.

“It’s a case of getting more information out of that person without being too cold but without being too involved either,” Kerry said.

A theory emerged in 2012 that the toddler had been accidentally crushed by a digger behind the property.

This theory was supported three years later by an anonymous tip saying the digger driver, Konstantinos ‘Dino’ Barkas, had told him on his deathbed he had been responsible and buried Ben’s body.

Kerry says she has passed the information on to South Yorkshire Police. Picture: PA

However, Ms Needham doesn’t believe this is what happened to her son.

She said that she now believes that he may have been trafficked, having been told by a Greek man of a group of “gypsies” who practised what he called “illegal adoption” between the 1950s and 1990s.

She said: “I don’t know when it dawned on us because… we’re not stupid but abductions and kidnappings, they happen in films.

“We were thinking why would anyone want to abduct Ben? We didn’t have any money for a ransom, which is what we thought a kidnapping was.

“We knew nothing about child trafficking and human trafficking back then, so it just didn’t enter our heads.”