The Mirror — Detectives probing the disappearance of Ben Needham have received 114 calls after going on air on a missing persons TV programme in Greece .
Det Insp Jon Cousins, the lead investigator on the case, said the team were given “information of interest” following the Greek show.
He said: “There has been a great response, not only here in the studio but I am aware of 114 calls to the telephones we are utilising with the officers who are out here in Greece.
“There has been some information which is of interest and it is something we are going to work on over the next few days.”
He added: “The show has done extremely well, it does reach out to the right people and I believe we will get some answers from this.”
The show, broadcast from Athens on Alpha TV, is watched by six million viewers.
Detectives are also continuing to look into claims that Ben’s name was changed to Andreas and he was with a man called Nikos two years after he vanished from Kos.
A team of British detectives have been on the island for a week, appealing for help from locals and the wider Greek community. The Mirror told last week how 10 detectives travelled there to investigate the disappearance as if from scratch.
Det Insp Cousins said he wanted to destroy “myth and legend” around the case. Ben’s mum Kerry said at the time: “I’m overjoyed that, after all these years, the Greek police are allowing British police to investigate.”
But officers came under fire after being pictured on a seven-hour drinking session within hours of launching the £1million probe.
Det Supt Matt Fenwick, senior officer on the case, was called back to the UK and reprimanded by bosses at South Yorkshire Police. He was allowed to continue working on the probe after pleas from Ben’s family.
Det Insp Cousins believes the answers to finding Ben lie in Kos. The British lad was 21 months old when he went missing in 1991 from outside a farmhouse his parents were renovating there. He would now be 26.
South Yorkshire Police were granted £450,000 by the Government in March for the search, plus £700,000 from the Home Office last January.
Last week, Crimestoppers offered a £10,000 international reward for evidence leading to Ben’s discovery.
