Leather Sandals Could Be The Key To Search For Missing Ben Needham

Detectives leading the dig at the Kos farmhouse where missing Sheffield toddler Ben Needham was last seen have released a replica of the leather sandals the child was wearing to help searchers who are scouring the area for clues. 

The sandals were hand made by a local cobbler in exactly the same style as the pair that Ben's mother Kerry has bought for her young son on the Greek island 25 years ago.

On the day of his disappearance, July 24, 1991, two-year-old Ben had been left in the care of his grandparents while his mother went to work at a local hotel. Ben had been coming in and out of the house when, at approximately 2.30pm, the adults realised he had vanished

Detectives now believe the 21-month-old may have tragically been crushed to death by a digger at the family's Iraklis farmhouse. The breakthrough in the case came when a friend of the workman believed to be responsible came forward and revealed his information. The digger-operator believed to have crushed little Ben died of stomach cancer last year just before the investigative team from South Yorkshire Police arrived on the island to reopen the case. The man's friend maintains that the death was accidental, although the dead man's family have denied the allegations against him. Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain, Ben's sister Leighanna Needham, 22, said her family has never let go of the hope they will see him again.

"None of us want to believe that they are going to find something there because that’s 25 years of fighting and pain and hurt that could have been ended 25 years ago." she said.

"We’re a family that has lived in hope and what do you do when that hope is all gone? How do you continue when there’s nothing left?"

Pieces of light coloured fabric recovered from an olive grove near the house have been sent for forensic testing. The two-year-old had been wearing a white T-shirt and brown sandals when he was last seen.

Main image: ITV Yorkshire