Reuters — In a dramatic turn to what is one of Britain’s longest-running missing person inquiries, British police wrapped up a search for Ben Needham the toddler who disappeared in 1991 on the island of Kos saying they had recovered an item during a dig thought to belong to the child.
“It is my professional belief that Ben Needham died as a result of an accident near to the farmhouse here … where he was last seen playing,” Detective Inspector Jon Cousins of South Yorkshire police told journalists.
It is the first time British police have been so explicit on what they think may have happened to the child on the day he disappeared.
British police and forensic experts had searched two locations, one in the immediate vicinity of the farmhouse, and a second where it was thought earth was transferred and dumped.
Cousins said an “item” found at one of the sites police were searching two days ago was thought to be in Ben’s possession around the time he went missing. He said that was their initial understanding, and that item had been shown to the child’s family.
