The Mystery of Ben Needham

Grist.......

Anyone heard that before.

I've not.

Andrew wrote:Grist.......

Anyone heard that before.

I've not.

Grist to the mill.

Andrew wrote:According to the 'somebody knows' documentary, Ben only ever had 2 toy cars. 2 toy cars that disappeared with him the day he vanished. 2 toy cars that Grandad didn't know anything about until 10 years later and 2 toy cars that Grandma didn't even give a second thought about until 10 years later.

Work that one out....

I hate to say it but if Grandad says he didn't know anything about the cars until 10 years later and Grandma didn't give a second thought to them until 10 years later, even though Mum knew about them and must have talked about them...

Is it possible that Grandad and Grandma are trying to sow doubt about the car belonging to Ben precisely because they DON'T want the car identified as belonging to Ben... because.... (work it out).....

The toy car to me, was/is a big deal.

Don't believe some of the half ass crap since.

And the toy car is now the focus.

Watch said doc.

canada12 wrote:

Andrew wrote:According to the 'somebody knows' documentary, Ben only ever had 2 toy cars. 2 toy cars that disappeared with him the day he vanished. 2 toy cars that Grandad didn't know anything about until 10 years later and 2 toy cars that Grandma didn't even give a second thought about until 10 years later.

Work that one out....

I hate to say it but if Grandad says he didn't know anything about the cars until 10 years later and Grandma didn't give a second thought to them until 10 years later, even though Mum knew about them and must have talked about them...

Is it possible that Grandad and Grandma are trying to sow doubt about the car belonging to Ben precisely because they DON'T want the car identified as belonging to Ben... because.... (work it out).....

Sounds like a riddle. Will try and work it out tomorrow.

@Andrew Was looking for the link to the documentary. Is this the right one?

Grandad and Grandma know what happened to Ben. And they don't want his body found. In my opinion.

Chrissie... Yes.

Canada... Yes.

Andrew wrote:Grist.......

Anyone heard that before.

I've not.

I knew that Kerry's name was Grist at one time. I don't know if it's in her book but she was known by that name in newspaper articles during her marriage.

P.S. It is in the book.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R2u9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA274&lpg=PA274&dq=craig+grist&source=bl&ots=v7W__CBseJ&sig=cQWX1x4ZPizZ5zbnQ7_HVAF8MGA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi39_iDm-rPAhXhAMAKHeb1DQw4ChDoAQgiMAI#v=onepage&q=craig%20grist&f=false

chirpyinsect wrote:

Andrew wrote:

chrissie wrote:Thanks Andrew, just at work so I'll watch it tonight.

No worries. Let us know what you think when you do.

I have a suspicion that finding the duplo car was a set up. A nice lead in to mentioning the cars Ben had. The reason I say that is Eddie had passed the spot and wasn't even looking down, then suddenly he goes back.
Not saying that means anything other than the film-maker creating a nice little pastiche.

I agree with you there.

Andrew wrote:Chrissie... Yes.

Canada... Yes.

Very strange about the cars. They suddenly come across a car and Grandma immediately says 'That's not Ben's'. Then goes on to say that she had forgotten about them until Granddad just mentioned it and Granddad never knew anything about them at all. Seems staged to me as Chirpy said.

I've had a thought, perhaps some of the family know what happened to Ben ,as do the Police. The police can't prove what they know ,so have come up with a story to try to get the family who are in on what happened to incriminate themselves ?

Has Danny ever spoke of what happened that day? I know he was only 11 at the time but he would be late 30's now yet I haven't seen anything from him?

I think Eddie was taken on to site1 for a reason and it wasn't to ask him if it was the same concrete that he'd laid.
I bet he was being watched very closely for a reaction imo.
That was my first thoughts when I heard Eddie was going onto the dig site fwiw.

wjk wrote:I think Eddie was taken on to site1 for a reason and it wasn't to ask him if it was the same concrete that he'd laid.
I bet he was being watched very closely for a reaction imo.
That was my first thoughts when I heard Eddie was going onto the dig site fwiw.

Exactly what I thought.

TheTruthWillOut wrote:Has Danny ever spoke of what happened that day? I know he was only 11 at the time but he would be late 30's now yet I haven't seen anything from him?

I don't think he has publicly spoken. He is campaigner for Help Find Ben.

In 2004 Christine and Eddie were burgled by Danny's ex-fiancé and her mother, who apparently stole £22,000 from Christine and Eddie's bedroom and another £5,000 from their son's bedroom. The money was there to help fund the search for Ben.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/whats-on/out-and-about/missing-ben-s-mum-slams-thieves-who-took-money-1-321334

Strange to have such a large amount of money lying about the house.

canada12 wrote:

wjk wrote:I think Eddie was taken on to site1 for a reason and it wasn't to ask him if it was the same concrete that he'd laid.
I bet he was being watched very closely for a reaction imo.
That was my first thoughts when I heard Eddie was going onto the dig site fwiw.

Exactly what I thought.

Evening. Also had similar thoughts on that.

Sorry to harp on about the toy car - but I think it's a big deal in all this..

Hence why SYP have focused on it and why the Needham camp have sort of dismissed it.

seahorse wrote:

TheTruthWillOut wrote:Has Danny ever spoke of what happened that day? I know he was only 11 at the time but he would be late 30's now yet I haven't seen anything from him?

I don't think he has publicly spoken. He is campaigner for Help Find Ben.

In 2004 Christine and Eddie were burgled by Danny's ex-fiancée and her mother, who apparently stole £22,000 from Christine and Eddie's bedroom and another £5,000 from their son's bedroom. The money was there to help fund the search for Ben.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/whats-on/out-and-about/missing-ben-s-mum-slams-thieves-who-took-money-1-321334

Strange to have such a large amount of money lying about the house.

Very strange indeed. That's why I asked earlier on about Kerry's profession etc... In a round about way, I was angling towards the financial aspect of it all...

Not just her, but the rest of the family.

And just how much they've made from Ben's disappearance... Book, Media, Sofas, Interviews, Funding, Begging etc etc.

Apologies if that's harsh but it's an honest question...........

I think it's a fair question. We question the Find Madeleine Fund, so why not the Find Ben fund, except I don't think accounts are available for that one as it's not a Limited Company. I don't even know if it's registered as a charity. No idea what the set up is and how it works. It must be accountable somehow?

The green shorts are puzzling me. Christine hung them on a tree to dry and after Ben went missing, the shorts vanished as well.

I think it`s more likely that someone put them back on Ben before he was taken/driven/whisked away. This would eliminate the digger driver.

The green shorts are more puzzling to me than the toy car.

seahorse wrote:

Andrew wrote:

Very strange indeed. That's why I asked earlier on about Kerry's profession etc... In a round about way, I was angling towards the financial aspect of it all...

Not just her, but the rest of the family.

And just how much they've made from Ben's disappearance... Book, Media, Sofa's, Interviews, Funding, Begging etc etc.

Apologies if that's harsh but it's an honest question...........

I think it's a fair question. We question the Find Madeleine Fund, so why not the Find Ben fund, except I don't think accounts are available for that one as it's not a Limited Company. I don't even know if it's registered as a charity. No idea what the set up is and how it works. It must be accountable somehow?

Cheers. I would just like to know how the family have earned a crust over the years.

I've seen no end of 'gofundme' type of things spring up.

Not even looked into the Ben fund myself or the set up behind it. Good question though.

Mimi wrote:The green shorts are puzzling me.  Christine hung them on a tree to dry and after Ben went missing, the shorts vanished as well.

I think it`s more likely that someone put them back on Ben before he was taken/driven/whisked away.  This would eliminate the digger driver.

The green shorts are more puzzling to me than the toy car.

'Don't mention the shorts....'

Well the police and the Needham family appear to forget about that one anyway...

Andrew wrote:

Cheers. I would just like to know how the family have earned a crust over the years.

I've seen no end of 'gofundme' type of things spring up.

Not even looked into the Ben fund myself or the set up behind it. Good question though.

In the book it is mentioned that Eddie and Christine ran 3 skips and recycling plants. It went really well. And in 2004 they decided to sell up and relocate to North Cyprus.

To be fair the Needhams never ask for huge amounts. The last one (2015) asked for £5,000. https://gogetfunding.com/help-find-ben-needham/?single=4154
Just to cover things like travel expenses and I believe the Find Ben Needham organisation is run by volunteers.

Also found this from 2008:


Ben & Film Rights

A member of our family was approached by a TV company and was asked how we would feel if we were asked to sell our rights for a film about Ben's abduction, like the one the McCann couple are considering, as stated by their spokesman, who was quoted saying:

"The media are making money out of the situation themselves and we feel it is only fair and right that some aspect of that should come to the fund to help find Madeleine"

All members of the Needham family are usually willing participants when it involves publicity about Ben's abduction.

In fact we have participated in 2 documentaries for British TV stations.

Our first documentary was with the Carlton ITV and its title was "Somebody Knows"

The second one was done by "Cutting Edge" for Channel 4 and its title was "The Lost Boy".

In both cases, we never received any payment, none was asked and none was offered. If we were aked to sell our rights to any kind of commercial movie while Ben is still missing, we would flatly refuse.

Ben is a human being, NOT a commodity, to be sold around for profit.

The Needham family

seahorse wrote:

TheTruthWillOut wrote:Has Danny ever spoke of what happened that day? I know he was only 11 at the time but he would be late 30's now yet I haven't seen anything from him?

I don't think he has publicly spoken. He is campaigner for Help Find Ben.

In 2004 Christine and Eddie were burgled by Danny's ex-fiancé and her mother, who apparently stole £22,000 from Christine and Eddie's bedroom and another £5,000 from their son's bedroom. The money was there to help fund the search for Ben.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/whats-on/out-and-about/missing-ben-s-mum-slams-thieves-who-took-money-1-321334

Strange to have such a large amount of money lying about the house.

Thanks. Isn't it weird that he is a campaigner for Help Find Ben but is never seen or heard publicly? Never done a interview about his nephew?

The family also seem to have terrible luck with their partners too. Yes that amount of money surprises me because I was always under the impression from the docs and articles that they were always struggling for flight money to go back to Kos to search. To have such a large amount of cash in bedrooms is strange. Why not open a bank account for it?

I really don't like how the more I look into/read about the case the more questions are raised. Reading comments/discussion elsewhere and the police/media conclusion of Dino did it seems to be accepted though so not sure it worth it to keep plugging away. Is it being unfair to Kerry to question things?

Andrew wrote:

Mimi wrote:The green shorts are puzzling me.  Christine hung them on a tree to dry and after Ben went missing, the shorts vanished as well.

I think it`s more likely that someone put them back on Ben before he was taken/driven/whisked away.  This would eliminate the digger driver.

The green shorts are more puzzling to me than the toy car.

'Don't mention the shorts....'

Well the police and the Needham family appear to forget about that one anyway...

Do we only have Christine's word that she hung the shorts on the tree to dry? Has anyone corroborated this as fact?