On the thirtieth year of Ben’s disappearance, 24th July 2021 I was so pleased, despite difficulties in travelling due to the world wide COVID pandemic, to have made my latest visit to Kos Island. During my time on the Island, I again met with local Kos police who were very clued up on Ben’s case. After an unscheduled meeting, with the Deputy Prosecutor, on leaving the civic building, I posted my Reward notice, amongst other appeals from families of lost loved ones. My reward offered 40,000 Euros for resolve in Ben Needham’s case.
During my visit back to Kos, the local police had been contacted by the British Consulate on Rhodes, requesting a meeting. The Police were not aware what the meeting would be about. In the media reports that conveniently began circulating, (coinciding with the 30th year of Ben’s disappearance) it was stated that Police on Corfu, may be about to start, investigating reported sightings of a boy who apparently resembled Ben. This alleged sighting took place 29 years earlier!
Over the following few days, according to newspaper reports, other witnesses suddenly started reporting similar sightings. I expressed my own opinion, at the time, that there would be no credible outcome to this latest media hype. I cannot help wondering, when South Yorkshire Police conducted an extensive, and expensive dig at the expense of British Tax payers, on Kos Island in 2016, why none of these reports were made known to the Police at that time. It is unbelievable that these reports have never surfaced during the last 29 years.
It is now almost four months since my latest visit to Kos. To my knowledge, there has been nothing discovered, of any significance as a result of these so called sightings. I am not sure if any members of Ben’s family truly believed any of these reports, but as far as I am aware, no member of Ben’s family have visited Corfu to investigate. It was reported in one newspaper report I read, that Kerry was ‘shaking everyday,’ about these sightings. Bizarre in my view that there appears not to be a single photograph of the young boy in question, from any of the individuals who have gone to the newspapers. I know as a parent, if I had any serious belief in such reports, I would be the first on a plane to start searching. Any reasonable individual would wonder why, it has taken 29 years for such reports to come to light.