Missing toddler Ben Needham’s mum gives tragic update as she quits UK

Ben Needham’s mother Kerry said she has moved to Turkey so she can be closer to Kos where her son disappeared 33 years ago and where she continues to look for him to this day

Ben Needham disappeared in 1991(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

The mother of missing Ben Needham has quit Britain for Turkey so she can be nearer the island where he vanished.

Kerry Needham, 52, says she would not be able to live on Kos where her son disappeared as it makes her feel sick. The mum, from Sheffield, says she has done the next best thing by moving to neighbouring Turkey.

She said that from her new home she is able to drive to the port of Bodrum where she can catch a 30-minute ferry to the Greek island of Kos, where her nightmare began 33 years ago.

Ben was 21 months old in July 1991 when he vanished as he played outside a farmhouse his grandparents were renovating in the village of Iraklis while Kerry worked at a nearby hotel. Kerry stayed in Bodrum in 2016 while British police carried out the second of two searches on Kos, looking for Ben’s remains. The first hunt was in 2012.

Kerry Needham pictured in Turkey

Kerry Needham with daughter Leighanna

UK officers think Ben was the victim of a digger accident which was covered up. But no evidence was found and Kerry is convinced her son is still alive. The mum said it is painful moving away from her parents, 30-year-old daughter Leighanna, and two grandchildren, who are aged six and 10.

But she added: “Quitting the UK to live in Turkey is easier to help me do what I need to do to find Ben. I had to make a kind of heartbreaking choice. But it’s easier for me to travel backwards and forwards to Greece. It was becoming physically and financially impossible to travel backwards and forwards.

“We have been doing it for 33 years and unfortunately haven’t got finances to do that any more. If I was strong enough to live in Greece I would live there but it’s mentally impossible for me to live there. I’d be looking at every single blue-eyed blond guy thinking, ‘Are you Ben?’. I would never have a moment’s peace.”

Kos had represented the destination of her dreams when the family moved from South Yorkshire to the sunshine island for a new life. But now the thought of the place makes her shudder. She said: “Kos makes me feel physically sick. I know there are some good people on that island but there are also some people who have kept a secret for 33 years and that makes me feel very, very bitter towards the island.

A search team looking for Ben in Kos(Image: MDM)

“The people who have kept things hidden and covered up make me so angry. Knowing I have to go there makes my anxiety go through the roof but I have to keep going back there because that’s where the answer does lie. Living in Turkey, I’m close enough but far enough away for it not to affect my mental health in a drastic way.”

She added: “I’ve been strangely drawn to Turkey for a long time, coming backwards and forwards. Over the years we’ve had sightings there and the police have always bent over backwards. They’ve been amazing. The first [sighting] was four years after Ben went missing.”

Kerry said the family have long suspected that Ben could have been smuggled out of Greece to Turkey via a day trip boat. The mum added: “I’ve often thought that because Bodrum is [so close], it would have been easy in those days to take Ben on one. In 1991 there were no children’s passports, they were just written in ink on their parents’ passports.

“You can get a day trip boat from Kos to Bodrum, so to me there was nobody stopping those boats or day trips, nobody closed down the port. There was ample opportunity to get off that island across to Turkey. My dad went to the main port where the boats to Athens left because police told him to go there to check the vehicles getting on. But nobody thought about checking these normal day trip ports.

Kerry Needham with her mum Christine in Kos, in 2016(Image: MDM)

“I’ve had my suspicions and we’ve had lots of people coming forward. We’ve had numerous sightings over the years in Turkey. It’s a beautiful country and in all the years I’ve gone there, I have never met one unkind Turkish person. I would rather Ben was in Turkey because if he was I’d get the help in Turkey. They have been amazing.”

Kerry, who moved there this year, says she is happy with her new life as she also felt exhausted in the UK. She said: “It’s easier for me to be in Turkey. I can live my day-to-day life and deal with any information that comes up and travel where I need to go. It has been hard to leave England for good, because of my family. You miss living round the corner from your daughter and granddaughters.”

Kerry still spends a lot of the school holidays with her grandkids and keeps in touch during term time. She said: “I’m pretty sure Leighanna would love me to be there to support her. I’m pretty sure my mum and dad miss me, but I had to make that choice.” She added: “In England I don’t have a personal identity. I’m Ben Needham’s mum. People mean well and I love my country but I can’t even go shopping at Asda without someone recognising me and approaching me.

“They ask if there is any news and are so kind. They say, ‘I don’t know how you are still standing. If it was me I don’t think I could get through’. It’s very nice of them but when you are constantly recognised it’s like living in a goldfish bowl. People have given me amazing support but I want the chance to breathe while I carry on my search where people don’t know who I am.”