Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Ben Needham: Lost in Paradise’ of Hulu’s ’20/20 Britain’s Most Notorious Crime Investigations,’ the primary focus is on the mysterious disappearance of 21-month-old Ben Needham in Greece in the summer of 1991. The decades-long investigation that ensued led the detectives to consider the possibility of abduction, child-trafficking, and alleged sightings across Greece. The search also led to the excavation of a nearby area, which could hold the key to the mystery of the child’s disappearance. The documentary features exclusive and insightful interviews with the Needham family and the officials who tried to get to the bottom of the case.
Ben Needham Went Missing From His Family Home in Greece in 1991
Born on October 29, 1989, Ben Needham was the beloved son of Kerry Needham, who relocated to Kos, Greece, from Sheffield, Yorkshire, along with her parents, Eddie and Christine Needham, and her younger brothers, Stephen and Danny Needham. Soon after the move, Kerry landed a waitress job at a nearby hotel. On the fateful day of July 24, 1991, 21-month-old Ben was in the care of his grandparents while his mother was at work. According to Eddie and Christine’s accounts, around 2:30 pm, the child was coming in and out of the farmhouse they were renovating at the time. When they noticed that they hadn’t heard any noise from Ben for a while, they realized that he had gone missing. As the police got involved, they accused Stephen of abducting the 21-month-old child and killing him, as he was the last person to have seen Ben.
However, when a neighbor testified that she had seen Stephen leave the house alone on his motorbike, he was eliminated as a suspect. The authorities also suspected other members of the family to be involved in the disappearance. When the news reached the United Kingdom, more extensive searches were carried out in and around the area, but no evidence of any crime or the boy was found. After the family moved back to England and asked people to be on the lookout for Ben, they received more than 300 reported sightings of a kid matching Ben’s description in the following months. A few years later, in 1996, when Kerry’s parents appeared on a live Greek TV show, they received a call from a prisoner who claimed that Ben was being raised by the Kerimi family in Patras, Greece. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a dead end.
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Konstantinos “Dino” Barkas Was Linked to Ben’s Disappearance After His Demise
Decades later, in September 2016, the police finally made a breakthrough in the case when a witness came forward and claimed that his friend, Konstantinos “Dino” Barkas, a digger driver, was working next door to the Needham residence at the time of Ben’s disappearance. The witness told the detectives that Dino had confessed to running over Ben accidentally with his digger machinery. According to the witness, the accused then hid the toddler’s remains in a mound of rubble. After identifying the alleged burial site, in September 2016, the police carried out an excavation using human remains detection (HRD) dogs, forensic archaeologists, and geophysical survey equipment. In October 2016, although the operation didn’t detect any trace of Ben, they found his toy car after 21 days of digging up the site.
Inspector Jon Cousins released a statement: “My team and I know that machinery, including a large digger, was used to clear an area of land on 24 July 1991, behind the farmhouse that was being renovated by the Needhams. It is my professional belief that Ben Needham died as a result of an accident near the farmhouse in Iraklis, where he was last seen playing. The recovery of this item, and its location, further adds to my belief that material was removed from the farmhouse on or shortly after the day that Ben disappeared.” On July 24, 2017, South Yorkshire Police announced that they found traces of blood on Ben’s toy car. However, more than a year later, in November 2018, the blood wasn’t a match for Ben Needham’s DNA.
In order to seek justice and find answers, Ben’s family created a new website, believing that he might still be alive. As for the suspect, Konstantinos “Dino” Barkas, he had already passed away in 2015 at the age of 62, before the police considered him a potential suspect. Before his death, Dino had built a successful construction business. He had a family of his own, including a wife, Varvara Barkas, and their son, Valandis, who described Dino as an honest and respectable man. It is reported that Dino also cooperated with the British investigators whenever required during the investigation. When suspicions about his possible involvement in Ben’s disappearance emerged, Varvara dismissed them.
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