Private eye renews search for Ben

If he is alive, Ben will be 14 later this month

A private investigator is flying to Greece to renew the search for missing Sheffield boy Ben Needham.

Ben disappeared on the island of Kos as a toddler during a family holiday 12 years ago.

Ian Crosby has been working for the Needham family for free since February to examine claims that local police did not investigate the case properly at the time.

Mr Crosby will be accompanied on the two-week trip by Ben's uncle, Danny Needham.

Someone on Kos knows exactly what happened Ian Crosby

Mr Crosby, who comes from St Athan near Cardiff, said: "This could be a very important opportunity for us to remind people living on Kos that far from forgetting about Ben we have no intention of giving up on this search.

"I felt it was important to start the search afresh and it was important that it was someone outside the family to do it.

"We feel that someone on Kos knows exactly what happened and that they should be attracted by the substantial reward still on offer for the right information."

Mr Crosby said that difficulties between Ben's family and local Greek authorities had led to a rift which has hampered the search.

Large reward

The Needham family have offered a reward of 150,000 euros (£105,000) for information about their son's whereabouts.

Ben was just 21 months old when he vanished on 24 July 1991.

He has not been seen since, despite appeals by his family and the British authorities over the years.

Theories have included Ben having been killed, abducted or sold on to a family who could not have a child, but police have never closed the file.

If he is alive, Ben will be 14-years-old on 29 October.