14 September 2023 , 10:51
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The mum of missing toddler Ben Needham says she was physically sick as she waited for police to tell her DNA results after a boy's body was discovered in Germany.
Kerry Needham, 51, has been on edge since the remains of a young boy were found wrapped in foil in the Danube river. Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he went missing from the Greek island of Kos in 1991. British officers have now ruled out that the child is him.
Kerry has urged police to keep looking for him and refuses to give up hope, but admits she was a “nervous wreck” as the investigation into the heartbreaking discovery was carried out. Her fears grew when police said the child was not German and could have been abducted from overseas.
She refused to give up hope that Ben is still alive (Press Association)
Kerry says she believes her son was abducted back in 1991 (Daily Mirror)Describing the phone call from South Yorkshire Police, she told the Mirror: “My stomach did a somersault. But it’s a relief. I actually was physically sick when I heard. It was all that pent-up anxiety. I was expecting it to be in another couple of days. It came as a huge shock but obviously a relief.
“I’ve been on edge every day. I’ve tried to distract myself but it’s always there in the back of your mind. What would I do if it is Ben? How would I handle it?” Kerry says she was horrified to hear the boy in the Danube had been weighed down with a concrete slab. She said: “The way that little boy died makes it worse, it’s just horrible.
Mum of missing toddler calls on cops to return to Kos and speak to key witness
“Someone has done that to that boy on purpose. The thought of that being my son was sickening, it churns my stomach.” But Kerry also feels terrible for other parents out there still waiting for news. She said: “They are obviously suffering like I have been suffering. I hope they do find who he belongs to because not knowing what’s happened to your child is the worst nightmare.”
Kerry has spoken of her relief after the DNA results came in (Daily Mirror)Kerry said in 2016 that she was told a witness had come forward and believed Ben was killed in a digger accident near the farmhouse he vanished from. “I did believe it in the beginning, but then it all changed after the second dig. The only evidence was the DNA from a toy car they found. But the forensic tests came back and the DNA was not Ben’s", she previously said.
“There is no evidence – nothing – to prove their theory, despite their hard work. After that, to me then, the whole theory went down the drain.” Kerry is hoping the new boss at South Yorkshire Police looks at the case with a “fresh pair of eyes”.
She earlier said: “The police have told me certain people who were interviewed on Kos by Operation Ben had inconsistencies in their statements. If people were lying then it warrants further investigation. If it was a murder investigation in England, would the police be satisfied with inconsistencies in statements? I really worry that because of limited funds police were under pressure to close the case."