Ben Needham’s granddad fears cops ‘won’t find anything’ in their search for missing tot
THE granddad of Ben Needham has said he fears cops won’t find anything to help explain the tot’s disappearance despite being confident they’re doing a “fantastic job”.
Eddie Needham, 68, has visited the site where he last saw the missing toddler on the Greek Island of Kos, on July 24 1991.
He told : “If there is anything to find, they’d have found it by now.”
Eddie had feared he may have worked on the farmhouse foundations at the centre of the search.
The extension, ripped down yesterday by police, is attached to the building Eddie Needham was renovating on the day Ben vanished.
But, after inspecting the foundations he said they were not the ones he put in weeks after Ben disappeared.
Eddie travelled to the Greek island to get “answers before I go to my grave”.
The former builder from Lincolnshire, told the : “I feel confident they are doing a fantastic job. They have the best search teams and best archaeologist in the world.
“But I really don’t think they will find anything despite how hard they’re working.”
Eddie added: “At the end of the day he was with me and his grandma and he went missing in our care.
“I’m surprised my daughter doesn’t hate me. How she must feel I don’t know.”
Two weeks after Ben’s disappearance Eddie’s boss told him to come back to work.
The grandfather says he was furious but had no choice but to return to work to support his family.
It meant Eddie laid foundations under the site of the farmhouse extension that police have just pulled down, shortly after Ben went missing.
He added: “All I ever wanted to do was find Ben before I died.”
Speaking yesterday Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said his negotiations with the farmhouse owners were successful but he acknowledged it was a difficult decision for them.
The officer thanked the family for their understanding.
Ben vanished 25-years-ago while on holiday with his family – and according to a new witness, may have been buried by a digger driver following an accident.
Police believe Ben may have been crushed to death by a digger after its operator Konstantinos Barkas, who has since died of stomach cancer, told a man from Kos that Ben died in an accident and he covered the body up.
Mr Cousins said a newspaper photograph from 1991 had alerted the team to the fact that the extension he is to demolish was not there when Ben disappeared.
He added that it will be up to the family whether it is rebuilt but he confirmed that was not the plan at the moment.
Mr Cousins said: “The family are clearly upset about what we’re doing.
“They have very kindly agreed to allow us to do that and I am extremely grateful for that.
“Clearly it’s going to be a distressing time for them. This is where many generations, including the current generation, were born and grew up and we’ve got to deal with it as sensitively as possible.”
Fresh excavation work began on September 26 – but was delayed after the site’s landowner threatened legal action over the discovery of an ancient burial site.
However, the search restarted on Friday, with police and volunteers sifting through masses of soil in an attempt to find traces of the missing toddler.
Cops have also been looking for fragments of clothes Ben could have been wearing that day and analysing a picture of a fig tree planted after his disappearance.
Investigators have even had replicas of Ben’s leather sandals made by a local cobbler, which they hope will help search teams.
Ben’s heartbroken mum, Kerry Needham, 43, has told how her life has been on hold since her son went missing in 1991.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, she said: “He could have ended this 25 years ago. I could have grieved.
“You never forget your child but at least I would have known where he was. I could have done something with my life.
“Instead I’ve had a life on hold without being able to do anything or focus on anything. I’m living this nightmare – but it could have been ended 25 years ago.
“I could have probably forgiven that person back then. But now, no.”
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