Ben Needham's mother 'very anxious' over boy's body found in German river

Ben Needham went missing on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991 when he was 21 months old

The mother of missing Ben Needham has said she is "very, very anxious" to learn if a child's body found in a river in Germany could be her son.

Kerry Needham said she expected DNA testing to be carried out on the boy's remains, which were pulled from the River Danube in Bavaria last year.

South Yorkshire Police (SYP) confirmed it was "looking into" the case.

Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991.

Ms Needham, 51, alerted SYP to an Interpol appeal to identify the boy found in the Danube near the city of Ingolstadt in May 2022.

The international police organisation said the child, thought to have been aged between five and six, had been weighed down with a flagstone and wrapped in foil.

It added investigations indicated the boy "likely spent time outside of Germany".

Kerry Needham said discovering what had happened to her son would allow her to grieve

Ms Needham said a Facebook follower had brought her attention to the German case because they thought a reconstructed image of the boy resembled Ben.

She said SYP were now "working with Interpol to rule Ben out".

"They have Ben's DNA so hopefully it'll be a quick process and put our minds to rest," she told BBC Look North.

"God forbid it is Ben because of the circumstances of how he's died and ended up in the river.

"It's absolutely heartbreaking what's happened to that little boy."

Interpol appealed for help to identify the boy last week

Ms Needham said it would be "horrific" to learn the boy dumped in the river was her son, adding: "I don't know how any parent would get past that."

But discovering what had happened to Ben would allow his family to grieve and "try our best to move on and rebuild our lives," she added.

However, Ms Needham said the family no longer "allow our hopes to get built up" after a number of false dawns in the 32-year search for her son.

"As the years have gone on, it gets harder to deal with," she added.

In 2016, police search teams said they were "optimistic" excavations of two sites on Kos would uncover what had happened to Ben.

But despite 800 tonnes of soil being dug up and more than 60 items being sent back to UK for analysis, no trace of the toddler was found.

Fresh police digs in 2016 failed to uncover what happened to Ben

Paul Joseph, head of helplines at the charity Missing People, said the pain of searching for a loved one "doesn't get any easier from day one to day 100 to day 1,000".

"Not having any resolution and not knowing what's happened means that people can't move on, can't grieve if someone has passed away," he added.

A SYP spokesperson said: "We are aware of reports of a body being found in Germany.

"We are looking into the reports and at this time, we do not have any further update to provide."