Police: Could You Be Missing Ben Needham?

Police officers who have travelled to Kos to look for missing Ben Needham have made an appeal to local people, asking them: "Could you be Ben?"

The officers from South Yorkshire Police have begun a new search for Ben, who was a toddler when he went missing on the Greek island in 1991, and would now be 26.

DI Jon Cousins said: "We are not here to blame anyone or get anyone into trouble; we simply want to know what happened to him.

"If we were to find Ben alive, any decisions made about what happens to him would be a matter for Ben and we would work with him to ensure we come to an arrangement he is happy with.

"We have a sample of Ben's DNA and it would be very simple for us to carry out a test and find out if they are Ben.

"This can be done in total confidence and no one else has to know.

"The question I would like people to ask themselves is: could you be Ben?

"As a child, did you have blond hair and blue eyes?

"Do you have doubts over who your parents are, or perhaps you look physically different to your parents?

"Perhaps there are no photographs of you as a child?

"If you have any of these doubts, please call us and there are trained detectives standing by to take your call."

A £10,000 reward is on offer, pledged by charity Crimestoppers, for anyone who provides information leading to Ben's discovery, even if they live outside the UK.

A key line of inquiry is a call received by the Missing People charity in 1993.

The caller said that Ben was living in Greece under the name "Andreas" and was being cared for by a man called "Nicos".

Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he vanished on 24 July 1991, after travelling to Kos with his mother and grandparents.

His grandmother Christine Needham had taken Ben to a farmhouse in Iraklis his grandfather was helping to renovate.

Earlier, Ben's mother Kerry Needham told Sky News the family had received a lot of support from the public, who "want to know the answers too".

She believes people may have feared talking to police in the past: "In Greece they have a statute of limitation and after a certain amount of time no one can be prosecuted for this crime, unfortunately.

"Now this timescale has lapsed, and there is no fear of somebody getting into trouble for this, then they might come forward."