MISSING Ben Needham’s family have told how they believed the youngster had been FOUND – only for their hopes to be shattered by cops who told them they thought he was dead.
The toddler’s sister Leighanna Needham, 22, revealed that a private meeting had been arranged between her, mum Kerry and gran Christine and Operation Ben officers before they travelled to Kos to dig for the youngster’s remains this summer.
And when a senior officer arrived all three women began to dream that the mystery had been solved after 25 years.
But, that was not to be the case.
Leighanna, from Sheffield, South Yorks: “When the superintendent turned up at the door with the other officers we were all taken aback and we knew it was something serious.
“We were all sat in a line – me, my mum and my nan – holding on to each other.
“We thought they were going to tell us they’d found him.”
However, the news wasn’t quite what the family had hoped and they were instead told about a different theory.
Leighanna, from Sheffield, South Yorks., said: “The superintendent explained their theory and said a witness had hold them Ben died in an accident the day he went missing.
“The tears just silently fell from all three of us and I felt our hands tighten around each other.
“It was just a blur after they said that.”
However, Leighanna has said her family will fight “until their final breaths” to find out what happened to 21-month-old Ben after a police dig for his remains failed to uncover compelling evidence of his death.
South Yorkshire Police spent three weeks excavating the area around the farmhouse where Ben was last since in 1991 and a yellow toy car, believed to be in Ben’s possession that day, was discovered at a second site where a digger driver had dumped material from the farmhouse.
Tests are being completed on the car to determine whether it was Ben’s or not.
Despite officers’ beliefs that Ben died on the day he went missing, Leighanna said the family is unable to accept his death as officers found no trace of his body.
She said: “The police told us to prepare for the worst.
“Well, this is the worst case scenario – we are no closer to finding the answers than we were six years ago when South Yorkshire Police took on the case.
“We thought that they were going to find his remains or something that could prove he had died that day.
“Waiting for news every day was very traumatic and we still don’t know exactly what happened to him.
“We don’t know if we are ever going to find Ben or find out whether he did die on that day.
“In my mind and in my heart I can’t say for definite that my brother is dead because there is not enough proof for me.”
Leighanna praised South Yorkshire Police for all they had done since they took over the case six years ago.
She said: “The police are heartbroken too that they didn’t find the answer. hey so desperately wanted to give us some closure.
“As heartbreaking and traumatic as that would have been, we would have been able to grieve and get some sort of relief.”
Leighanna added: “We will continue fighting for the truth until our last, dying breath.”
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