Nearly 27 years ago, Ben Needham went missing from the Greek island of Kos while his grandparents were looking after him. He was only 21 months old at the time.
His family still doesn't know what happened to their little boy, including his mum Kerry.
"We’re still in limbo. In my mind, Ben is still a missing person," Kerry, from Sheffield, shared on Loose Women yesterday.
"Apart from the [toy] car that we know belonged to Ben and the piece of sandal… we don’t know if that is Ben’s, we don’t know if that is Ben’s blood on there," she said.
"In our minds, it’s very difficult to accept that he has died. We believe what the police have told us obviously. But, it’s very difficult for us to accept that because we have no concrete proof."
Picture via Twitter
Ben's mum confessed that 'in the back of our minds we know that he has died'. However, the lack of answers means that 'we will never be able to move on from that' and to them, he will 'always be a missing person'.
His grandparents are still wracked with guilt, she shared. Ben was being looked after by Kerry's mum Christine at the time of his disappearance.
"I want you mum to know that it’s not your fault," Kerry said while addressing the camera, "I don’t blame her. I don’t."
Ben's mum also discussed the recent additional funding put towards the search for Madeleine McCann.
'We're still in limbo. In my mind, Ben is still a missing person. Apart from the car and the piece of sandal - we don't know if that is Ben's blood. It's difficult to accept Ben's died' - Kerry Needham on her son Ben who has been missing since 1991 pic.twitter.com/R1cEg2ohlW
— Loose Women (@loosewomen) 28 March 2018
"It hurts, it hurts us and it hurts me as Ben’s mum," Kerry admitted, "I’m not taking anything away from it all. She deserves to be found, but so does Ben.
"We have not had a fraction of that help. I’ve had to fight alone, you know, as a single mum and try to get the help that Ben deserves and that we deserve as a family."
Kerry said of the help given to her son's case, "It did happen in the end but not to the magnitude that [Madeleine's] case has had. Which is unfortunate and very, very sad for us. I’ll still keep going. I’ll still do the media interviews. Ben’s name still needs to be out there, while he’s still missing."
Ben's mum also spoke about the numerous children who go missing each year, saying, "They still deserve to be found and that’s how I feel. I don’t take anything away from anyone else that has got a loved one that’s missing. Every person needs to be found. Resources must be put into this."
Our hearts go out to Kerry and families everywhere whose children are missing.
