The Mystery of Ben Needham

Thanks for merging Candyfloss

Well that didn't take long, 15 December 2014 Needham family preparing to sue Home Office for police funding in the search for Ben. 06 January 2015 Home Office announces further funding.

Panic in government? How could they give under oath the reason why one child above all others is worth more than any missing child? Keep it out of court too many questions to answer why the McCanns have been given unparralleled support.

Could this be the start of an avalanche the government are unable to control? What if other relatives of missing unfound people stake their claims? Will they be forced to finally halt the McCann support wagon?

Dee Coy wrote:Could this be the start of an avalanche the government are unable to control? What if other relatives of missing unfound people stake their claims? Will they be forced to finally halt the McCann support wagon?

Interesting thought Dee Coy, it would be an avalanche indeed, relatives of missing people may now decide to go down the same road has the Needhams if like them they have been ignored and pushed to one side. The wagon in one way or another will have to be stopped too many secrets will have to be told if they don't!!

Missing Ben Needham: Greek businessman claims toddler was snatched and sold by Roma gypsies
Dramatic abduction claim is being taken seriously by police who have been searching for Ben since he vanished on the island of Kos in 1991

By Keith Kendrick Jan 27, 2015
Ben Needham aged 21 monthsPA

A Greek businessman claims missing Ben Needham was snatched and sold by a Roma gypsy family 24 years ago.

The dramatic claim is being taken serious by South Yorkshire Police who have been given £700,000 by the British government to search for Ben, who was 21 months old when he vanished on the island of Kos.

The businessman told the Greek equivalent of BBC's Crimewatch - Alpha's Light at the End of the Tunnel - he knew the name of the family allegedly involved in Ben's abduction.

He said he was passed the name in prison while he was in custody on financial charges relating to his business.

In an email to the Greek show he said the family he names were selling fruit in Kos and 'stole the boy and covered him under boxes of fruit. That's how they were able to leave the island'.

The programme tries to reunite missing families and is broadcast live for three hours across the country and its islands.

The businessman came forward after an appeal on the programme from Yorkshire TV's 'Calendar' producer Mark Witty, who has been involved with the case since Ben's disappearance in July 1991.

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Via a website link he answered questions about the investigation and asked for anyone with information to come forward.

Ben's mum Kerry, from Sheffield, was also shown in an interview via the internet which was played to millions of viewers .

The Greek businessman said he had been affected by the recent death of a relative, and knew the pain the Needhams were feeling at the loss of Ben.

http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2015/01/27/missing-ben-needham-greek-businessman-claims-toddler-was-snatched-sold-by-roma-gypsies/

Link to the above story.

Another timely reminder of the possibility of children being abducted by gypsies!

This website is I think well known for its pro McCann stance.

As for Ben, there's no evidence that he was abducted either.

http://www.helpfindben.co.uk/shop.html

Oh dear, I'm not sure that I like the new look of the Ben Needham website!

I'm sorry but that is a disgrace.

Truly awful whatever were they thinking???

Yes, bad taste ... :-(

Shocked, flabbergasted and appalled.

The array of products goes well beyond good quality wristbands... Pet accesories? Come on!

I wonder what or who gave the Kerry the idea for this....

I do remember her as being quoted some time ago as being a little critical of the McCanns' online shop and limited company.

At least she hasn't done the latter.

Has this just recently been set up. 

Yesterday?

55 squid for a shoulder bag.

Jesus.

The website has certainly been around for years but without the shop. Perhaps someone techie might be able to say when it was updated?

Andrew wrote:Has this just recently been set up. 

Yesterday?

55 squid for a shoulder bag.

Jesus.

There's a huge amount of merchandise on the website as well, a lot of it personalised with Ben's photos.

I wonder if all that merchandise had to be paid for in advance and who/what paid for it, part of the Home Office grant perhaps. After all if SY can throw £10m at the search for Madeleine, surely they can't ignore the Ben Needham campaign.

I can imagine a garage full of key rings, dog collars, horrendous looking shoulder bags @ £55 "Supernatural Black Messenger" / "Draculca 2 Messenger" bag, just naming two, going mouldy over the coming years.

The public must be sick to death being ripped off thinking they're an easy touch, all started by the McCanns.  It seems that Ben Needham's family have missed the boat by about 8 years.

I have to confess I really haven't followed this case that well. I did believe in the beginning that Ben's disappearance was genuine, but after reading what I have read today I have changed my mind. I just wonder now.

There is certainly no evidence that he was abducted.

It was an odd chain of events, so we are told. Ben was playing within yards of his grandparents who were renovating an old building.

Suddenly he went quiet - an ominous sign as all parents will know - and was nowhere to be found when the grandparents went to investigate. They thought that he might have gone with his 17-year-old uncle on the latter's motorbike.

Surely, if that was the case, the uncle would have told them what he planned to do, not just taken off with Ben - and wouldn't his bike have been heard just before Ben went quiet?

It wasn't until the uncle returned and knew nothing about Ben that the alarm was raised.

There was also an 11-year-old uncle on site all the time and I wonder if he - accidentally of course - played a part in whatever happened to Ben.

If there was family involvement in some way, goodness knows how they have been able to keep the secret for so long.

It's all done by CafePress, lots of sites use them. The items are printed to order, so there is no "stock" as such, like the McCann shop. I think the prices are CafePress prices and the website gets a proportion of the sale. At least they don't have the thongs, laundry bags and pint glasses on there. I also seem to remember Stevo doing the same thing some years ago with a picture of Eddie and "Dogs Don't Lie".

Thank you. That does explain how the McCann website was able to produce its tat for sale so quickly.

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/story/2015-04-15/ben-needhams-family-have-travelled-to-greece-after-new-lead/

Sadly I fear that this will be another false alarm.

"over the last few months his mother Kerry was contacted by someone who thinks he's Ben."

I do hope something comes of it, and it's not another false alarm.

But I can't help thinking it's a very marked contrast to the McCanns. When a credible sighting was reported in Belgium, down to an ice-cream glass being DNA tested, the first thing they did was go to Germany for a TV appearance!

Resistor wrote:I do hope something comes of it, and it's not another false alarm.

But I can't help thinking it's a very marked contrast to the McCanns.  When a credible sighting was reported in Belgium, down to an ice-cream glass being DNA tested, the first thing they did was go to Germany for a TV appearance!

***
Yeah, I remember that. The "world" was holding its breath ... but they didn't react. BTW in Germany they got, for the first time, some critical questions.

Mum of missing Ben Needham returns to Greece for fresh TV appeal 24 years after toddler vanished

The 21-month-old disappeared during a family holiday on the island of Kos in 1991 and his mother Kerry is as determined as ever to find him alive

The mum of tot Ben Needham has travelled to Greece to make a fresh TV appeal to help find her son who vanished 24 years ago.
The 21-month-old disappeared during a family holiday on the island of Kos and, despite many searches, remains missing.
Parent Kerry has gone to Athens with South Yorkshire Police to appear on a missing persons programme, called ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel’.
She will meet the British ambassador before the broadcast which will be seen by 50 per cent of the Greek TV-watching population.

Earlier this year, South Yorkshire Police was granted £700,000 Home Office funding to support the island authorities in continuing inquiries to find him.
Ben was holidaying with his mum Kerry and his father Simon in the village of Iraklise when he went missing on July 24, 1991, just before his second birthday.
Reports of sightings have drawn a blank and recent new information has been investigated without success.
The three-hour TV show on Friday evening will feature Detective Superintendent Matthew Fenwick and Detective Inspector Jon Cousins.
Ben’s grandmother Christine and his sister Leighanna will also feature in the appeal
In a statement, Kerry said: “We sincerely hope this will lead to more people coming forward with new information and will help the British and Greek police investigate the whereabouts of Ben.”
The tot went missing from outside a farmhouse his grandparents were renovating.
Kerry, from Parson Cross, Sheffield, has spent years travelling to and from Kos following up leads and has handed cops a dossier of information.
In October 2012, officers excavated a mound of earth near to where Ben was last seen alive, investigating a theory he may have been accidentally buried under rubble by a JCB driver.
in 2013, a DNA test carried out on a man in Cyprus proved he was not Ben.
Kerry has always maintained her son is alive and was probably abducted.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-missing-ben-needham-returns-5692981