Ben Needham, a 21-month-old British child, disappeared while on a family holiday in Greece in 1991.
The mother of missing baby Ben Needham has revealed the findings of a recent DNA test on a Danish man who has come forward to claim his identity.
The British toddler was only 21 months old when he went missing in 1991 while staying with family on the Greek island of Kos with his mother Kerry.
The couple had been on vacation with Ben’s grandparents, Eddie and Christine Needham, at their home in the village of Iraklis near Kos town at the time.
Ben went missing at 2.30 p.m. on July 24, when his mother was working at a nearby hotel.
According to his grandparents, the toddler had been wandering in and out of the farmhouse several times in the previous hours.
Eddie and Christie first discovered Johnny was missing around 2.30pm.
Despite a long search and numerous police interviews, investigators were unable to determine the child’s fate.
That was until early this year, when a man in Denmark claimed to be Ben from Lincolnshire.
South Yorkshire police notified the press in July that the unknown man’s DNA had been checked and compared to that of the missing toddler, and they were waiting for the findings.
A spokesman of the authorities told the press at the time: “Whist South Yorkshire Police has no jurisdiction in Greece, we are keen to support Greek authorities and Ben’s family in any way we can and a senior investigating officer remains in contact with Greek counterparts.
“Our thoughts are with Ben’s family who have never given up hope of discovering the truth of what happened on 24 July 1991 and we will continue to support them in that endeavour.”
Unfortunately, after much anticipation, a spokeswoman for Ben’s family has confirmed that the DNA sample did not match the missing toddler.
Ben’s mother, Kerry, 51, has already published a statement, vowing that she will continue to seek for her son.
She told The Mirror last week, “I will never give up for as long as I live.”
The latest incident comes after years of British and Greek police investigating the case after several potential leads proved to be dead ends.
Back in 2012, authorities thought they were one step closer to finding the child after a digger driver confessed on his deathbed that he had inadvertently ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ the boy and ʙᴜʀɪᴇᴅ ʜɪs ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴs.
Unfortunately, investigators were unable to confirm his admission, and any bones discovered on the island have been determined not to be Ben’s.
Nikolaos Dakouras, the island’s chief of police, told press at the time: “We now believe we have searched every possible part of that area, and the boy is not there.
“It leaves us with a great mystery. We have no theories. We have no solutions.”
Detective Inspector Jon Cousins, who was previously in charge of the inquiry, also previously stated he believed the toddler had died in an accident near the farmhouse.