Ben Needham search police in talks to demolish Kos farmhouse
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Version 0 of 1. Police searching for missing toddler Ben Needham on the Greek island of Kos are negotiating to knock down part of a farmhouse on the search site. Nineteen South Yorkshire police officers, forensic specialists and an archaeologist have been scouring an arid stretch of farmland where the 21-month-old toddler went missing in 1991 as part of a new line of inquiry. DI Jon Cousins said he was trying to persuade a family who own a farmhouse at the site to let him demolish part of the structure. “There is reason for me to consider removing a small part of this farmhouse so that I can be sure that I have not missed any opportunity to find the answers that I need to.” Cousins said a 1991 press photograph showed that part of the building was not there when Ben went missing but added that negotiations were difficult as many members of the family that owned the building had grown up there. “I fully understand the concern that the family have,” he said. The officer also said the operation was back on schedule after an issue last week when a suspected ancient burial site was discovered. Ben’s sister, Leighanna Needham, meanwhile, described her family’s pain as they waited for news. “None of us want to believe that we were going to find something there because that’s 25 years of fighting and pain and hurt that could have been ended 25 years ago,” she told Good Morning Britain. “We’re a family that’s lived in hope. And what do you do when that hope’s all gone? How do you continue when there’s nothing left?” The Kos excavation began after reports that the Sheffield toddler may have been killed and buried there, yards from where he vanished while his grandfather was renovating a property. Police are investigating claims that the toddler might have been killed by a digger driver working on the 2.5-acre site. Konstantinos Barkas was clearing land near where Ben was playing on the day he vanished and may have accidentally killed him, a friend of the builder reportedly told police following a TV appeal in May. The driver died of stomach cancer last year. His widow, Varvara, strongly dismissed any suggestions her late husband had killed Ben. There have been several theories over the toddler’s fate and reported sightings since his disappearance. But his mother, Kerry Needham, was recently told to “prepare for the worst”. Last week, she told the Daily Mirror: “Not even in my worst nightmares has Ben ever been dead … until now. I’ve been waking up and finding my pillow wet with tears.” She added that she was angry when police told her about the tip-off and she now lives in fear that each day will bring the “worst news possible”. |