- Title: Investigators in Needham case scour field on Greek island for clues
- Date: 27th September 2016
- Summary: KOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER DIGGING INVESTIGATORS LOOKING ON BULLDOZER / INVESTIGATORS BULLDOZER DIGGING / POLICE TAPE VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER DIGGING PETE TERES, NORTHUMBRIA POLICE INSPECTOR AND DIG CO-ORDINATOR, STANDING BY FARMHOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORTHUMBRIA POLICE INSPECTOR AND DIG CO-ORDINATOR, PETE TERES, SAYING: "It's a long-drawn affair as you can see, there's a lot of people helping us out from the volunteer services, the Greek search and rescue, painstaking work, we're going down to fragments as small as one centimetre that we're looking at so it takes time, it's laborious, it's not exciting by any sense of the word but it has to be done. It has to be done methodically and it has to be analysed to the very last grain of sand basically." VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS WORKING IN FIELD VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS USING SIEVE VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS INVESTIGATOR GOING THROUGH DIRT WITH HIS FINGERS INVESTIGATORS IN FIELD VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS RAKING THROUGH DIRT VARIOUS OF INVESTIGATORS IN FIELD
- Embargoed: 12th October 2016 14:58
- Keywords: Needham Kos island toddler crime police South Yorkshire
- Location: KOS, GREECE
- City: KOS, GREECE
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA00151CFJGN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:British police seeking a toddler missing for 25 years said on Tuesday (September 27) they were analysing a field on the Greek island of Kos, where he was last seen, "to the last grain of sand."
Following new leads in the disappearance of Ben Needham, South Yorkshire Police, leading the investigation, began excavations in an olive grove on the island on Monday (September 26).
Police are focusing their attention on two sites on the island close to where Ben was last seen on July 24, 1991, and a team with British and Greek forensic archaeologists involved continued sifting through mounds of earth using a giant sieve for a second day on Tuesday.
"It's a long-drawn affair as you can see, there's a lot of people helping us out from the volunteer services, the Greek search and rescue, painstaking work, we're going down to fragments as small as one centimetre that we're looking at so it takes time, it's laborious, it's not exciting by any sense of the word but it has to be done. It has to be done methodically and it has to be analysed to the very last grain of sand basically," said Northumbria Police Inspector and dig co-ordinator, Pete Teres.
Since the excavations began a "vast number" of bones had been unearthed but discounted as belonging to animals, while scraps of fabric, that were uncovered earlier on Tuesday and were being analysed, were "of slight interest" according to British police on site.
The child was 21 months old when he disappeared while playing outside a farmhouse his family was renovating as a holiday home.
A previous dig in 2012, as well as the DNA testing of young men of similar age and looks, have not borne any results.
Excavations are expected to continue for days and possibly weeks. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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