The Mystery of Ben Needham

Satsuma wrote:

bluebell wrote:
Nor can I imagine it had water and electricity supplies, but I'm going to shut up about that now.              

Not really my area of expertise, but what is the yellow pipe/cable leading from the ground to the  cottage in the first photo posted by Seahorse?

.... But that's a very recent picture.

Here's a similar picture on this link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3838098/Search-Ben-Needham-running-ideas-farmhouse-repaired-grandmother-admits-no-fairy-tale-ending.html

I just don't understand. SYP made this hullaballoo about the extension being added since the disappearance so they had it demolished.
But the walled bit in front of the farmhouse was also added, and yet they leave that alone.

That makes me think it was all for show.

Thanks Andrew, if it's electricity I was just wondering why it comes out of the ground so far from the road

Regarding the lady over the road who "saw" him just before he disappeared, the more I hear about it the morre unconvincing it seems to be

we are told she was sitting outside. Where exactly? The stone house is back to front. Also, does anybody know who first reported her sighting of BN - the police or someone else? When was she asked - if it was days or weeks later, she may have confused the date when she saw him

She desn't appear to have been questioned on the day he disappeared (please correct me if  I am wrong on this). Strange

Satsuma wrote:Thanks Andrew, if it's electricity I was just wondering why it comes out of the ground so far from the road

Regarding the lady over the road who "saw" him just before he disappeared, the more I hear about it the morre unconvincing it seems to be

we are told she was sitting outside. Where exactly? The stone house is back to front. Also, does anybody know who first reported her sighting of BN - the police or someone else? When was she asked - if it was days or weeks later, she may have confused the date when she saw him

She desn't appear to have been questioned on the day he disappeared (please correct me if  I am wrong on this). Strange

I think 'her sitting outside' is from one of the documentaries. But why would she sit outside in the sweltering heat? And indeed, where would she sit. There's no balcony at the front, nor a front garden.

Paraphrased from the book: The police had to go around the rear to pay her a call. She had been home all day.

I can never get my head around it that the Needhams didn't knock on her door when Ben disappeared. He could have wandered off onto her property. They had Michaelis with them who spoke Greek, so no language barrier either.

... But was it the same day that the Police went round to this old lady's house?

That would be useful to know but seems unlikely, given the timeline of events following his disappearance and the time at which the public announcement was made

Neighbours with no name, with nowhere to sit and general lack of detail in their recollections, don't make a compellling narrative to me

It boils down to "Someone said he was there just before he disappeared".  Prove it

Satsuma wrote:Thanks Andrew, if it's electricity I was just wondering why it comes out of the ground so far from the road

Regarding the lady over the road who "saw" him just before he disappeared, the more I hear about it the morre unconvincing it seems to be......cont'd......

Hi Satsuma, don't think it electric....its coming from behind low wall at house to the ground where the septic tank/drain is. If you look at pictures on the Mail link provided by Andrew the builders are constructing a wall with the hose slung over ready for use......

Andrew wrote:... But was it the same day that the Police went round to this old lady's house?

This was between 7 and 8 o'clock the same day when the police went to the farmhouse.

seahorse wrote:

Andrew wrote:... But was it the same day that the Police went round to this old lady's house?

This was between 7 and 8 o'clock the same day when the police went to the farmhouse.

I was just reading a snippet from the book about it.

Page 93/94 on this link:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R2u9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=michaelis+kypreos&source=bl&ots=v7W-UvyqhD&sig=lgmF2pNTISJnNRsD6RcZBBIj24Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5jKnF3PPPAhWCDBoKHcA3DBgQ6AEIRzAI#v=onepage&q=michaelis%20kypreos&f=false

Just doesn't sit right with me.

Hello Seahorse, if the police were there on the same evening, why do you think it took so long for the story to reach the media?

Thanks Bampots re pipes, prob not significant anyway but helps to clear it up

Back to basics then

apart from the lady over the road, when was the last independent sighting of BN?

Satsuma wrote:Hello Seahorse, if the police were there on the same evening, why do you think it took so long for the story to reach the media?  

Thanks Bampots re pipes, prob not significant anyway but helps to clear it up

Back to basics then

apart from the lady over the road, when was the last independent sighting of BN?

Hi Satsuma.

Lunch time by Michaelis Kypreos.

It might be interesting to create a timeline, starting the evening of the 23rd of July. Though times have always been a bit vague.

Satsuma wrote:Hello Seahorse, if the police were there on the same evening, why do you think it took so long for the story to reach the media?  

Thanks Bampots re pipes, prob not significant anyway but helps to clear it up

Back to basics then

apart from the lady over the road, when was the last independent sighting of BN?

Yeah, that's a very good question.

You'd assume Michaelis saw him but did he ever speak up about the events in the early days. Any interviews / recordings etc? He must've made a witness statement but of course we'll never know for sure or see it.

But if you take Michealis out of the equation for a minute - then did anyone else independent actually confirm on record seeing Ben? Even in the days prior to the disappearance?

Andrew wrote:But if you take Michealis out of the equation for a minute - then did anyone else independent actually confirm on record seeing Ben? Even in the days prior to the disappearance?

Not that I recall.

There are only very few photos of Ben in Kos made public.

I suppose really that we only have the Needham's say so that Michaelis saw Ben that lunchtime and nobody else outside the family has possibly seen him at all. (I'm excluding the old lady as that sounds fictional).

As an aside the statue of limitation laws are 20 years in Greece. And the Book came out 22 years later. Is that right?

Michaelis did speak though (I think this must be Michaelis at 45 seconds). This video is from 2011 I believe.

Why hasn't Michaelis ever spoken before?

Writer's licence perhaps, adding to the dramatic narrative, but it's surprising to see people quoted word for word all those years later

It's usually hard to remember exactly what was said the following day

I wonder when that clip of Michaleis was taken then when he said he gave a 21 month old toddler Coca-Cola.

He left quite quickly to relocate to Australia after Ben's disappearance if I recall. Just how quickly though?

Just to go back to the water theme slightly....

Eddie:

“I searched everywhere – the ravine, the brambles, the outbuildings, the well.”

I agree about the unlikelihood of anyone being able - or even wanting to - to eat a meal in what was just a shell.

We are told that the males (including an 11-year-old boy) were working on the roof, which I took to mean that they were physically up there repairing it.

There was nothing there so I'm unclear as to what they were actually doing.

There looks like there's a roof on the end building (I think that was the extension - so did they start on that first?).

If they had ladders up against the wall (which I presume they would to get to the roof),then do you think it's possible a 21 month old could actually climb a ladder to the top? Unaided / unsupervised?

The men apparently worked on the guttering.

What guttering? I can't see any.
Also, doesn't a building first have to have a roof before you add the guttering?

Andrew wrote:There looks like there's a roof on the end building (I think that was the extension - so did they start on that first?).

If they had ladders up against the wall (which I presume they would to get to the roof),then do you think it's possible a 21 month old could actually climb a ladder to the top? Unaided / unsupervised?

That is the kitchen to which the extension was added a few months after Ben's disappearance.
Could be that they were adding guttering to that bit.

In the picture below, the turquoise door leads to the added extension.



I think in the video the reporter says that the window used to be a door.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ben-needham-search-inside-farmhouse-8930725

ETA not in the video in the above link, but I've heard him say it in another video of the inside.

Thanks, but the original point of the end building did seem to have a roof on.. So that could be where they were all working on (if the book accounts are true that is).

Another point.. We here about Danny supposedly working on this roof as well. But what else do we hear about Danny in the book. What's mentioned of him and in what context. We obviously here a lot's of bits and bobs about Stephen. But what of Danny?

Satsuma wrote:Thanks Andrew, if it's electricity I was just wondering why it comes out of the ground so far from the road

Regarding the lady over the road who "saw" him just before he disappeared, the more I hear about it the morre unconvincing it seems to be

we are told she was sitting outside. Where exactly? The stone house is back to front. Also, does anybody know who first reported her sighting of BN - the police or someone else? When was she asked - if it was days or weeks later, she may have confused the date when she saw him

She desn't appear to have been questioned on the day he disappeared (please correct me if  I am wrong on this). Strange

Hi satsuma - Are you referring to the lady that was on her balcony who saw Stephen drive off but doesn`t know if he was alone or not?  Because it was the lady whose house was the next one up going north who kept the chickens with her husband.  If you go on google maps you can see where she was sitting all those years ago although the house has changed a bit since.