DNA test disproves man's claim to be Ben Needham

Ben Needham has been missing since July 1991

A man's claim to be Ben Needham, the toddler who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991, has been disproved by a DNA test.

Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he vanished from a farmhouse his grandfather was renovating in the village of Iraklis 33 years ago.

In July, South Yorkshire Police said a man had come forward to authorities in Denmark claiming to be Ben and had taken a DNA test.

However, a force spokesperson confirmed his DNA did not match that of the child and his mother, Kerry, had been informed.

The man had also been informed of the DNA test result, the spokesperson added.

Ben, who would now be 34, vanished after travelling to the island with his mother and grandparents, who were renovating a run-down farmhouse building.

An extensive search of the farmhouse and nearby land took place in 2017, but provided no definitive answers for his family.

South Yorkshire Police forensic officers carried out excavation work in Kos in 2016

Kerry has previously said she still believes her son is alive and was abducted.

In 2016 South Yorkshire Police said it believed Ben was killed accidentally while he was playing.

Last year police confirmed the body of a boy found in a river in Germany was not that of Ben.

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