Ben Needham

On July 24, 1991, 21-month-old Ben Needham, a British toddler, vanished while playing outside his grandparents' farmhouse in the small village of Iraklise on the Greek island of Kos. His mother Kerry had traveled to Kos with her parents, who were renovating a farmhouse they had purchased on the island. Ben was playing in the area around the property under the supervision of his grandparents when he disappeared.

The search for Ben became one of the longest-running missing child cases in British history. Kerry Needham and her family spent decades campaigning for a thorough investigation, often expressing frustration with both Greek and British authorities. Multiple theories emerged: that Ben had been abducted and sold or adopted by a Greek family, that he had wandered off and fallen into difficulties, or that he had been taken by human traffickers.

In 2012, South Yorkshire Police took over the investigation and conducted extensive inquiries in Kos, including excavating the area around the farmhouse in 2016. During this investigation, a significant line of inquiry emerged: police came to believe that Ben may have been accidentally killed by a digger operator named Konstantinos 'Dino' Barkas, who was working on the adjacent property that day. Barkas, who died of cancer in 2015, may have accidentally buried Ben under rubble without realizing what had happened.

Despite extensive excavation of the area, no remains were found. South Yorkshire Police stated in 2016 that they believed Ben had died as a result of an accident involving the digger, but they could not conclusively prove this. Kerry Needham has expressed skepticism about this theory and continues to believe her son may still be alive. The case remains officially open.