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View Full Version : Ben Needham, the 22 year case of a missing boy in Greece



rashka
10-23-2013, 06:39 AM
He would be almost 24 years old today, wherever he is.

From: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ben-needhams-mum-kerry-greeks-2472103


The 21-month-old vanished on July 24, 1991 while his grandparents Eddie and Christine Needham were looking after him on the Greek island of Kos. In May 2012 The Daily Mirror revealed that police were considering excavating land in Kos to look for Ben’s body, although his mother, Kerry, still believes her son to be alive.

http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1483671.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Ben%20Needham-1483671
http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article867169.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Ben%20Needham,%20Missing%20Boy%20on%20Greek%20Isla nd-867169
http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article142598.ece/ALTERNATES/s298/ben-needham-pic-pa-882361164-142598.jpg
http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2469989.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Ben-Needham-2469989.jpg

His mom:
http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2470931.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Kerry-Needham-2470931.jpg

Ben Needham's mum Kerry: Greeks told us gipsies don't steal babies - now we know that they do
20 Oct 2013 09:28

As four-year-old girl known as 'Maria' is found in Greece, police probe claims Ben Needham was at the same gipsy camp.

The family of missing Ben Needham were given fresh hope last night after claims their son was held by gipsies in the same camp a four-year-old girl was rescued from this week.

His mother Kerry Needham, 41, said: “The authorities in Greece always told us, ‘Gipsies don’t steal babies’. Now we know they do. We are very optimistic this new information may help us find Ben.”

The family of missing Ben Needham were given fresh hope last night after claims their son was held by gipsies in the same camp a four-year-old girl was rescued from this week.

We are very optimistic this new information may help us find Ben.

The astonishing claims come from Andonis Bedzios who had gone to the remote camp in Larissa, central Greece, to search for his own son when he saw a child matching Ben’s description.

He gave a statement to cops – but Ben’s family say it was never properly followed up by officers.

The account is one of a string of links between the Greek travelling community and the disappearance of the 21-month-old toddler from Greek island Kos in 1991.

The arrest of a Roma couple at the Larissa camp for abducting the blonde girl, known only as Maria, has given Ben’s family – and missing Madeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry – renewed hope.

Ben’s family said they believed gipsies “always held the clue” to his abduction. And they called on the Government to urge Greek police to make fresh inquiries.

In an impassioned plea mum Kerry yesterday begged: “Please help find my son now. Someone needs to start taking notice of us. Ben is 24 years old now. It has been 22 years too long.”

She said: “We have always believed Ben’s abduction was gipsy-related and we have had a long ongoing inquiry in Larissa.

“We hope the investigation into Ben’s disappearance will now be looked at again in Larissa with British and Greek police.”

Speaking out a year after returning to Kos with the Daily Mirror – for a search that ruled out the possibility Ben’s remains were buried near where he vanished – Kerry said: “We want no stone left unturned.

“The British Government need to speak to Greek police and make sure they blow the case wide open and see if the couple know anything about what happened to my Ben.”

The missing Sheffield boy’s sister Leighanna said last night she wants her DNA tested against that of Maria to see if she is related to Ben.

She added: “I think that would be brilliant to get our DNA out there. Even if it’s not actually Ben but any siblings or any children maybe of Ben (that are found) then that could hopefully lead us to him.”

Bedzios’ sighting of Ben emerged in 1996 when the tot’s grandparents Christine and Eddie visited him in Larissa jail.

He told them Ben was in the care of the “Kerimi family”, a well-known gipsy clan in Veria, a town north of Larissa.

He said he knew this because he’d escaped from prison in 1991 and returned to the Kerimi family as his son Rambo had been living with them.

On his visit there, Bedzios noticed a boy in the camp matching Ben’s looks and was told by the head of the family they had “got him from Kos”.

A taxi driver also came forward saying he had seen Ben in his cab with a member of the Kerimi family, who he used to drive around.

Gordon Bernard from the British Embassy in Athens was later given instructions via Bedzios from prison regarding the location of Ben.

He followed a detailed trail but Ben was never found.

Ben’s family claim Mr Bernard was being watched and police failed to properly investigate Bedzios’ claims as he was a convicted crook.

Greek cops last night continued to question a 39-year-old man and his partner, 40, on suspicion of abducting Maria. A source said detectives plan to quiz the couple over potential links to other child kidnaps in the area.

They are also expected to interrogate them over possible connections to other child-snatchers. Maria was found on Wednesday during a police sweep of the camp for suspected drug trafficking.

Cops grew suspicious because the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl bore no resemblance to the couple claiming to be her parents.

The pair changed their story of how they got Maria several times – the woman claimed to have given birth to six children within a 10-month period. DNA tests confirmed the girl was not theirs.

Maria – who only speaks Romany – is said to be healthy and is being cared for by charity Smile of the Child who are trying to find her parents.

Spokesman Panagiotis Pardalis said: “We have been receiving hundreds of emails from people in the US, UK and France about Maria.”

Yesterday Ben’s grandad Eddie, 63, said: “We’ve always been convinced gipsies in and around the area Ben went missing hold vital information.

“We think there may be significant links to the discovery of this little girl and Ben. We will be making sure the police have Ben’s case at the forefront of their mind.”


How Ben may look like today:
http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article2470927.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/How-Ben-Needham-may-look-now-2470927.jpg

What he might of looked as a kid.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/13/article-2323846-19C2802C000005DC-449_306x423.jpg


Six reasons that give new hope for Ben

1. The discovery of snatched Maria is in the same area as the sighting of a blond boy at a gipsy camp in 1995.

Stratos Bakirtzis spotted a boy, aged around six, living with a family in Salonika, Greece. The child said he had been given to gipsies after being abandoned by his parents and his adoptive mother claimed to have bought the boy from another gipsy.

While there was no evidence to suggest it was Ben, it showed children were being sold in gipsy circles.

2. In 2011, a retired doctor said he had seen a blond toddler, who spoke a few words of English and said his name was Ben, with a gipsy woman who could not have children. Sotiris Papachristoforou reported the sighting in the town of Larissa in 1992, but police were not interested as there was no crime.

3. Another sighting in the Corinthia area in 1995 was revealed last year after Ben’s mother made an appeal on Greek TV.

4. Gipsy camps were never investigated at the time of Ben’s disappearance as police were “scared” to go into them. Ben’s sister Leighanna said Maria’s discovery showed authorities are now willing to go into gipsy settlements.

5. In 1996, a prisoner in a Larissa jail told police Ben was being held by a gipsy family. Andonis Bedzios visited their camp looking for his son when he noticed another boy. The family said they got him from Kos where Ben vanished.

6. Police always believed Ben was the victim of a gipsy kidnapping. Maria’s discovery gives weight to this theory.

Greek charity The Smile of the Child confirmed child trafficking is rife in the country. A spokesman said: “If you look behind the trafficking cases there are similarities. There are a lot of victims of trafficking, neglect and abuse.”

McCauley
10-23-2013, 06:50 AM
I keep hearing that story on the news and I thought the little girls mother had left her with them, not that they had stolen her. Why would they want to steal little blond children? That's like something people would believe in the Middle Ages, parents telling their kids not to go far from home or they'll be snatched up by a gypsy.

rashka
10-23-2013, 06:54 AM
If he is alive, I wonder if he has access to the internet. He probably knows just Greek. So can someone post something here in Greek for that slim chance that he might come across it and give him the courage to go to the police?

Something like this:
αισθάνεστε ότι δεν είστε τσιγγάνων αναζητούν και να ξεχωρίζουν ανάμεσα σε οικογένεια και τους συγγενείς σας, καθώς μπορεί να έχουν απαχθεί από τσιγγάνους έτσι πάει στην αστυνομία τώρα, οι γονείς σας θα μπορούσε να ψάχνει για σας. Μην ανησυχείτε, η αστυνομία θα σας βοηθήσει.

McCauley
10-23-2013, 06:56 AM
If he is alive, I wonder if he has access to the internet. He probably knows just Greek. So can someone post something here in Greek for that slim chance that he might come across it and give him the courage to go to the police?

Something like this:
αισθάνεστε ότι δεν είστε τσιγγάνων αναζητούν και να ξεχωρίζουν ανάμεσα σε οικογένεια και τους συγγενείς σας, καθώς μπορεί να έχουν απαχθεί από τσιγγάνους έτσι πάει στην αστυνομία τώρα, οι γονείς σας θα μπορούσε να ψάχνει για σας. Μην ανησυχείτε, η αστυνομία θα σας βοηθήσει.

Why do you care so much about this?

I don't mean to sound callous, it's just that usually people don't take such an interest in other people's problems.

Anglojew
10-23-2013, 07:41 AM
I'm beginning to wonder if Europe really is civilized if her institutions can allow white slavery in 2013.

Prisoner Of Ice
10-23-2013, 07:46 AM
This reminds me of a white couple I know who adopted a black kid. When he was 11, they sat him down and told him he was black and he didn't believe them :lol:

This kid would be 22 by now, hasn't he questioned his ancestry?

rashka
10-25-2013, 04:17 AM
This kid would be 22 by now, hasn't he questioned his ancestry?

There should be some telltale signs while growing up that showed he was not part of the family. Even gestures, sound of the voice, gait of the walk, they way the parents would answer when questions arise, the way he was treated, etc.

armenianbodyhair
10-25-2013, 04:22 AM
I like how they spell mom "mum" in the article.

Sikeliot
10-25-2013, 04:24 AM
If he is still alive he probably does not know who he is or that his name is Ben.. he's probably been renamed. I do think Gypsy child trafficking is likely responsible though.