Missing toddler Ben Needham will be back in the spotlight as his mother is poised to make a direct TV appeal in Greece.
Kerry Grist (formerly Needham) has travelled to Greece in the company of UK police officers.
Her son Ben, then aged 2, vanished 23 years ago. He was staying on the island of Kos (pictured) with his mother and his grandparents. He disappeared on 24 July 1991 while his grandparents, Eddie and Christine Needham, were looking after him.
The next day police searched for the little boy on the hillside above Kos, but no trace was found. After two months of searching, the Needhams did not have enough money to continue and they returned to Sheffield.
Over the course of time a number of possible sightings have been reported, but there have been no positive developments.
In 2011 the South Yorkshire Police launched a cold case review. Officers went to Kos to renew the investigation.
In January this year, the Home Office announced that it was providing extra funding for t5he investigation. Weeks earlier Ben’s mother had threatened to sue the Home Secretary.
Charity Crimestoppers are offering a reward of up to £10,000 to anyone who gives information which leads to the discovery of Ben.
Comments
The shockingly offensive abuse that the McCann parents have suffered has been entirely absent for the Needhams.
Both Greece and Portugal arriving in the EU after long running fascist regimes. Portugal having been in a North Korea like self-imposed isolation for most of the 1900's.
And still today Portugal's local communities constant observance and reporting back to their authorities of the day to day life of ordinary EU incomer foreigners. The authorities ignoring, for a fee, the incoming criminals.
Surely indicative of the greater maturity of the Greeks in accepting that some of their police investigations, and police, are not up to the standard the EU expects.
Can anyone help on this one? To what extent is the Home Secretary responsible for finding children who have disappeared abroad? When can we call it a day? The Madeleine case goes on and on, with taxpayers money spent on trawling over old facts. Heartbreaking for the relatives, but for how long is the taxpayer responsible?