The Mystery of Ben Needham

Duncan Wood ‏@duncanwooditv 4m
Police say more than 70 exhibits now found in search for #BenNeedham and are in talks with #kos prosecutor to remove some from island

Hope wrote:I have more info and thoughts but don't know if it's worth typing as I don't know if members are interested or not.

I am interested Hope. I just can't understand any of the latest developments and I am trying hard not to be cynical.

Andrew wrote:Duncan Wood ‏@duncanwooditv  4m
Police say more than 70 exhibits now found in search for #BenNeedham and are in talks with #kos prosecutor to remove some from island

Interesting - was this sort of protocol followed in the McCann case?

unreorganised wrote:

Andrew wrote:Duncan Wood ‏@duncanwooditv  4m
Police say more than 70 exhibits now found in search for #BenNeedham and are in talks with #kos prosecutor to remove some from island

Interesting - was this sort of protocol followed in the McCann case?

Am I being thick here, but why would they need to get the ok from a prosecutor...?

In 2012 Kerry revisited the farmhouse (during the police dig). She says in her book that nothing had changed to the farmhouse since Ben disappeared.

"To this day there has been no work on it since Ben's disappearance although, weirdly, a new cottage was built adjoining it. Whatever the reason, it died with Michaelis."


But it has had changes. The outside was rendered. A roof was added. A family even lived in it.
Also, Eddie, laid the foundations for the extension (cottage????), so it can't have been a surprise.

Also Eddie was present to point out changes to the SYP (as he's been doing again now). They would have liked Michaelis Kypreos to be present as well, but unfortunately he died 2 weeks prior.

A Michael Kypreos died on 17th October 2012 in Williamstown, Hobsons Bay City, Victoria, Australia

http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=ChY1&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gsln=Kypreos&gsln_x=XO&gss=angs-c&rank=1&uidh=000&pcat=BMD_DEATH&h=1929582&db=FindAGraveAustralia&indiv=1&ml_rpos=8

Andrew wrote:

unreorganised wrote:

Andrew wrote:Duncan Wood ‏@duncanwooditv  4m
Police say more than 70 exhibits now found in search for #BenNeedham and are in talks with #kos prosecutor to remove some from island

Interesting - was this sort of protocol followed in the McCann case?

Am I being thick here, but why would they need to get the ok from a prosecutor...?

Probably just poor wording. I assume it just means it is still a Kos police case and if the UK police want take anything back they have to get permission to do so.

Watching the day 18 briefing and it is bothering me that Duncan keeps repeating that Dino Barkas is implicated in this because this second site is where he brought his spoil.

1, They haven't found a thing after removing and sifting through 800 tonnes of rubble
2, They haven't indicated that anything has later been removed from the rubble. For example finding older dated material on top of newer.

I really wish someone would ask Duncan about the contradictions in Kerry's book like the info of work stopping at the building site before they had lunch/Ben went missing. Or whether any other adults could have borrowed and used the digger at any point? Also Duncan keeps comparing the digger being used at the site today with Dino's but aren't they really quite different? Dino's had tracks rather than wheels and was more a Caterpillar. My question about the digger would be have they tested the tracks for blood/DNA even after all these years? Surely worth a shot?

I would of thought that with Duncan being very close to all this and been involved in it for some time, then he would be fully aware (as are the Police) of the inconsistencies and contradictions that have been said.

I can't remember exactly what Dino's digger looked like and whether they've shown either the original or a replica version in all the recent coverage.

Dino's digger
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ben-needham-prime-suspect-digger-8846635

Yes seahorse that is a least one of his diggers. The name on the side seems to translate as BARKAS O.E using Google translate. I wonder if we could find that digger somewhere on Google street view?

My issue (maybe OCD?) with how Duncan Wood has described things is that the digger being used now at the site looks "very similar" to Dino's and it just doesn't. It would be like showing a Mini and a F1 car and claiming they look similar. Also he has said in one report that on the farmhouse site they found tyre marks. As can be seen in the picture you posted Dino's digger has tracks not wheels/tyres.

TheTruthWillOut wrote:Yes seahorse that is a least one of his diggers. The name on the side seems to translate as BARKAS O.E using Google translate. I wonder if we could find that digger somewhere on Google street view?

My issue (maybe OCD?) with how Duncan Wood has described things is that the digger being used now at the site looks "very similar" to Dino's and it just doesn't. It would be like showing a Mini and a F1 car and claiming they look similar. Also he has said in one report that on the farmhouse site they found tyre marks. As can be seen in the picture you posted Dino's digger has tracks not wheels/tyres.

From the above Mirror article:

The Mirror found what is believed to be the digger Dino was driving on the day Ben vanished.

We discovered it in a village just seven miles from the spot. The rusting machine still clearly has the “Barkas” name painted – in Greek – on the side.

Police are investigating whether it is the one that may have been involved in Ben’s tragic disappearance.

They know that one is still in operation on the island.

Officers have already examined one machine in recent months.

The 952 Liebherr model was ­manufactured by a Swiss-based firm between 1989 and 1993.

Not sure if it's the same digger, though the Mirror seems to think so. Has there been any news on it being investigated by the police?

I agree though, if it's the same digger, they should say tracks, not tyre marks.

I vaguely remember hearing or reading something about SYP being aware of where the actual digger was but can't remember where I saw that. The name on the side does seem to indicate it was/is one of his company diggers, though.

Those tracks, even after all this time, could hold tiny specks of evidence if Ben was hit by it. I can only assume SYP have done tests on it.

Mark Witty ‏@markwittyitv 26m26 minutes ago
Kos day 18 - back at site 2 for interview with new anthropologist Gaille Mackinnon while excavation continues @itvcalendar

http://www.alectoforensics.com/whoweare.html

A bit about Gailee (if you were wondering who she was like me)

https://www.facebook.com/calendarnews/videos/vb.106174219415088/1355822674450230/?type=3&theater

Live update.

Damn I am only just up, I did nt go to bed til 6 am, injection has worn off, pain crazy from typing yday. I wanted to ask Duncan about work being stopped for day, typical, I sat all yday with Calandar FB page checking in case he was live.

The irony of Duncan berating an impatient local driving onto the dig site when he himself was walking freely all over it.

Right at the end he talks about his conversation with the new anthropologist and again the reiteration of confidence in getting answers or finding something and that they have a plan and it isn't that they are looking for a needle in a haystack. So we have this confidence and that they have specific information from a witness which I take as someone there that day/involved directly in moving rubble. That can only now be one of 7 people with 2 that have died (I read at the Mirror that Dino was working with 3 others that day).

The confidence from every member of the SYP team seems misplaced given what we've seen so far. I really do wonder if evidence has been found elsewhere before these digs and they are clearing these two sites now so nobody can counter with a claim these sites weren't searched i.e. covering all bases?

I just don't know what to think at the minute. If it all ends with a SYP theory of what might/they believe happened that would be shocking to have put Kerry through all this.

Maybe they have found something but couldn't/wouldn't make it public before intense detailed forensic examination back in the UK?

It may not be much, but evidence enough to have convinced them these digs have to continue.   (I'm thinking bone fragments here)

....Could this be why they have prepared Kerry for the worst?

Didn't have chance to watch that update earlier when I posted it. Just watched it now. It's a long one. Well longer than usual.

You do wonder whether SYP have put too many eggs in this 'specific information' basket. Everything that's being done is on the back of one person's say so. Or at least that is what they want us to believe.

This specific intelligence though can't be that specific as after 18 days they've come up empty handed. Or again that is what they want us to believe at this moment in time.

I don't know. It's a strange one

Here's a picture posted in the Greek media in May this year that I haven't seen before, with the extension:



Just for comparison with the picture without extension:



The tree looks very similar in both, but could be very slow growing, so don't know when the 2nd pic was taken.

Comparing that picture to the Lost Boy Cutting Edge doc from 1996? it looks like that new Greek media picture is from before then but after 1992 when the extension was completed?

Weird that an extension was added and completed before completing the main house (Greek media pic) which doesn't look much further along than the 1991 Sun pic.

TheTruthWillOut wrote:Comparing that picture to the Lost Boy Cutting Edge doc from 1996? it looks like that new Greek media picture is from before then but after 1992 when the extension was completed?

Weird that an extension was added and completed before completing the main house (Greek media pic) which doesn't look much further along than the 1991 Sun pic.

That's what Kerry thought too in her book (her visit in 2012):

"To this day there has been no work on it since Ben's disappearance although, weirdly, a new cottage was built adjoining it. Whatever the reason, it died with Michaelis."

There's an update at 6 with Duncan chatting to this Gaille woman. Not sure of it's on the actual news or the FB thingy.

I'm out but would appreciate it if anyone who watches it could post the gist of it on here.

Cheers.

Did nobody watch it then....

Or was it not on...

I've only just got home but I can't see it on the Facebook link Andrew