- Title: Police in missing British toddler case seek new clues in old photographs, tree
- Date: 28th September 2016
- Summary: KOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER DIGGING AROUND LARGE FIG TREE INVESTIGATORS TALKING VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER / INVESTIGATORS INVESTIGATORS RAKING THROUGH DIRT UNDERNEATH FIG TREE INVESTIGATORS LOOKING AT FINDINGS BULLDOZER EMPTYING DIRT ONTO TRUCK BED (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE DETECTIVE INSPECTOR, JON COUSINS, SAYING: "A photograph was taken by one of your colleagues, a short time after Ben disappeared. We've been able to analyse that with the experts that were here now, and of course we're able to have a look at the fauna, and tree growth around it. And that search, we're having a look at the area around the tree down at the base of the farmhouse because we believe that may not have been there at the time, so if you see some activity there, that's the reason why." VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF FARMHOUSE BEN NEEDHAM'S GRANDPARENTS WERE RENOVATING AT THE TIME OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE ENTRANCE TO FARMHOUSE VARIOUS OF CENTRAL ROOM WITH OLD FURNITURE AND DRAWINGS ON WALL VARIOUS OF CHAIRS ENTRANCE TO SIDE ROOM WINDOW WHICH POLICE BELIEVE MAY HAVE BEEN A DOORWAY IN 1991 (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE DETECTIVE INSPECTOR, JON COUSINS, SAYING: "We're in regular contact every single day and we speak to all members of the family in the morning, during the day just to keep them updated and also each evening." VARIOUS OF CENTRAL ROOM OF FARMHOUSE/ DRAWINGS ON WALL/ ENTRANCE TO KITCHEN OVEN / SINK/ WINDOW IN KITCHEN BACK FIELD WHERE INVESTIGATORS ARE DIGGING FROM WINDOW WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN A DOORWAY ROOM IN FARMHOUSE FURNITURE IN FARMHOUSE EMPTY GLASS ON FURNITURE CENTRAL ROOM / DOOR INVESTIGATORS DIGGING IN FRONT FIELD FROM INSIDE HOUSE VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS RAKING THROUGH DIRT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE DETECTIVE INSPECTOR, JON COUSINS, SAYING: "We've made some inquiries on the island in relation to the sandal that can be seen on the photograph that Ben was wearing while standing on the motorbike. I am having an exact copy of that sandal made by a local resident who makes them to order. And I know the sandal was bought on this island, and it's just to say that once we've got that, that will be going off to be forensically examined in comparison to some of the items which were found in 2012." VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS COMBING THROUGH FIELD WITH RAKES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE DETECTIVE INSPECTOR, JON COUSINS, SAYING: "Some items have led us to be here today, I am not sure, the scientists are not sure, there is quite a bit of work to be done, they have been tested for DNA, and they are negative. We have no DNA from the items that we have but, as you can imagine, 25 years in the ground, the condition that they're in, they are very broken and I want them compared to make sure as I've said on many times before, that we have not missed every opportunity." VARIOUS ANIMAL BONES FOUND ON SITE FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST NICK MARQUEZ-GRANT HOLDING A BONE ANIMAL BONES (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST NICK MARQUEZ-GRANT, SAYING: "All the bones so far they're all non-human, animal bones. We've found hundreds of them." INVESTIGATORS AND VEHICLE AT SITE VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS AT SITE VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER EMPTYING DIRT ONTO TRUCK
- Embargoed: 13th October 2016 11:41
- Keywords: Needham Kos Greece island toddler crime police South Yorkshire
- Location: KOS, GREECE
- City: KOS, GREECE
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA00151HCVNR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Investigators searching for a British toddler who disappeared on a Greek island 25 years ago are seeking new evidence from old photographs and concentrated their digging efforts on Wednesday (September 28) around a large fig tree looming over the farmhouse where he was last seen.
Ben Needham went missing in Kos in 1991 and police started new excavations there on Monday (September 26), as part of their investigations.
Detective Inspector Jon Cousins of the South Yorkshire Police said searchers were looking around the fig tree both because of new evidence that they uncovered as well as a photograph taken by a member of the press in 1991.
He said investigators have studied the photograph and believe the tree may not have been there at the time the boy disappeared.
Ben's grandparents had been renovating a derelict, three-room farm building without a roof and living on site at the time of his disappearance.
There were doors that opened to both the field in the front, where diggers had concentrated their search in 2012, and in the back field, where the current search is taking place.
Cousins said he is also having an exact copy made of the brown leather sandals Ben was thought to have been wearing the day he disappeared by a local craftsman to compare it to their evidence.
A large number of bones had been unearthed but have been discounted as belonging to animals.
A forensic anthropologist that had also worked on another case of a missing British child - Madeleine McCann - who disappeared in Portugal in 2007, has been brought in to the investigate any bones found on site to determine whether they are human, but until now they have only been from animals.
On Tuesday, British police uncovered scraps of fabric "of slight interest" in the back field. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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