# Ben Needham

see Wikipedia →Disappearance of Ben Needham

Ben Needham (born 29 October 1989 in Sheffield) disappeared on 24 July 1991 at the age of 21 months from the Greek island of Kos. Despite numerous reported sightings over the years, no trace of the British child has ever been found. It is one of the longest missing persons cases in British history.

See also →Help Find Ben Needham (official campaign website)

see e.g. →Huffington Post

Ben Needham Search Not Getting Same Resources As Madeleine McCann, Says MP Angela Smith Huffington Post UK

The search for missing Ben Needham is not being treated as seriously as that for Madeleine McCann, an MP has suggested. Labour's Angela Smith challenged David Cameron over why the Maddie search had been given extra cash - when a similar request from the Needhams had been turned down.

Ben's mother Kerry Neeham lives in Smith's Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency. Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, she said: “Two years ago, the Prime Minister rightly agreed that extra resources should be made available to assist in the search for Madeleine McCann and yet, only months later, he turned down a similar request from Kerry Needham, my constituent, whose son Ben is still missing after 22 years. Will the Prime Minister please think again and respond positively to my recent letter to him by making extra resources available to help a desperate mother to search for her son?”

Replying, Cameron said: “This is an absolutely heartbreaking case - the whole country has followed it over the years.” He promised to look carefully at Smith's letter, adding: “Obviously, it is important that the police make such decisions themselves. Governments should always stand by to help, which is what happened in the Madeleine McCann case, but I will look at what the Hon. Lady says and see what I can do.” Last month, DNA tests on a man living in Cyprus, thought to bear resemblance to missing Ben, proved negative.

see e.g → This Morning - Today on ITV 18 May 2009 at McCannFiles

Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield present as Kate and Gerry McCann mark International Missing Children's Day by appearing alongside Kerry Grist, the mother of Ben Needham who disappeared in 1991, in their only British TV interview.

see →Halifax Courier

see →The Star

The mother of Sheffield boy Ben Needham, who vanished on a Greek island 22 years ago, has accused the Prime Minister of not giving his case the same backing as that of Madeleine McCann. Kerry Needham called for the same support and financial backing offered to the Metropolitan Police, who are heading the search for Madeleine, who vanished in Portugal in 2003.

A youtube video → comparing the cases (uploaded 20.01.2008).

Latest News: →The Star (updated 29.10.2014) “Mum of missing Ben Needham from Sheffield pleads for Government funding to help police find her son…Kerry, aged 41, from Ecclesfield, claims South Yorkshire Police applied for Home Office cash to fund the missing person investigation six months ago but has not yet had a decision. She said detectives want funding for a team to follow up new lines of inquiry in and around Kos to help find Ben, who vanished 23 years ago. She urged Prime Minister David Cameron to give the go-ahead, pointing out that the Government has already spent over £7 million on Scotland Yard’s review of the search for Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Praia de Luz, Portugal, in 2007, just before her fourth birthday.”