Police investigating whether toddler’s body found is Ben Needham | UK News
Police are investigating whether the body of a child which was found in a German river is missing toddler Ben Needham.
The unidentified body was recovered in the River Danube in Bavaria weighed down with a flagstone slap and wrapped in tin foil more than a year ago.
Ben vanished in 1991 on the Greek island of Kos while playing at his grandparents’ farmhouse.
His mum, Kerry, has said she was ‘pleased’ South Yorkshire Police were looking into whether the body was her son following an appeal made by international crime busters Interpol.
She said: ‘I’m pleased they are looking into it. Every possibility has to be investigated and ruled out. Our hope is that one day one piece of information will come forward which will uncover the truth.
‘I am hoping our British police will check this out and contact the German officers about this. We need to rule it out. I’ve always said all along that I don’t believe he’s died.
‘The reconstruction has a look of Ben. I never realised how child trafficking is so rife and massive.’
Interpol DNA Database Manager Francois-Xavier Laurent said: ‘We have received 33 hints from the public.
‘We can now assume this boy was probably not German.’
In their appeal the organisation said they were ‘seeking the public’s help in identifying a deceased boy and to determine the suspicious circumstances surrounding.’
They also released a reconstruction of the boy’s head.
The child was believed to be five or six-years-old when he died.
It is not known how long the boy’s remains were in the river, and German police have been unable to identify the child.
Investigators believe he was approximately 110cm tall, weighing 15kg, with brown hair and blood type O.
They have created a 3D reconstruction of what they think he may have looked like and offered a £8,600 (€10,000) reward for anyone comes forward with any clues.
It is believed the boy had spent time in other countries so the International Criminal Police Organisation and its 195 member countries, including the UK, are now involved.
The global law enforcement institution has issued a ‘Black Notice’ – a worldwide alert asking for information on identified bodies.
Secretary general Jürgen Stock said: ‘Someone, somewhere knows something about this boy, making it equally important to release certain details publicly.
‘Whether he was the victim of trafficking, abduction or violence, we are committed to mobilising all of Interpol’s policing capabilities to identify him and help investigators shed light on his death.’
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