It has been 33 years since British toddler Ben Needham vanished aged 21 months from the Greek island of Kos – with mum Kerry providing a fresh update on the case

Kerry Needham says she won’t be giving up any time soon(Image: MDM)

The mum of missing Ben Needham has been told the DNA sample from a Danish man claiming to be her son is not a match

After police told her the “disappointing” news, she told The Mirror it will not stop her search for her missing son. “I will never give up for as long as I live,” she said on Wednesday. In July, Kerry spent the 33rd anniversary of her son’s disappearance from the Greek island of Kos, waiting to find out if a stranger who’d come forward, could be Ben. But this week she was told by South Yorkshire Police, he is not a match for Ben.

Kerry told The Mirror: “I knew in my heart of hearts it wasn’t him but there’s always that hope, there’s always that chance. It could be someone you least expect, it’s always possible. So this is disappointing, obviously.“ The mum from Sheffield urged people to continue coming forward if hey have suspicions. She said: “We won’t let this deter us from appealing to other people to come forward, if they think they could be Ben.

Ben vanished aged 21 months in 1991(Image: Press Association)

“We will always take any information confidentially. Always willing to do a DNA test on anybody. The search goes on. It’s a case of rebuilding my strength and hope again, to continue with the search.“

Her son Ben vanished aged 21 months in 1991, after the family from Sheffield moved to Greece for a dream lifestyle in the sunshine. The toddler was last seen playing with his cars outside a derelict farmhouse his grandparents were helping to renovate. Since then, the family have searched the globe looking for their little boy, convinced he was snatched.

‌The man from Denmark claimed his grandparents had told him he was taken from Kos and was hidden for years. But Kerry, 51, was cautious as it was the third time this year someone has provided their DNA for comparison and she has been in this same position ‘multiple times’. She explained how the stranger’s DNA samples was compared with what Kerry describes as “a little bit of Ben that is still alive’.

She is referring to the DNA taken from a blood sample taken from when Ben was born at Boston Hospital in Lincolnshire, for the routine Guthrie heel-prick test to screen for disorders. South Yorkshire Police went to the High Court in 2012 to get the sample, giving Kerry hope that one day it could help end her desperate search for her son.