How the world sees Greece
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British police begin excavating site on Aegean island where toddler went missing 21 years ago
The search for Ben Needham resumed in earnest on Friday as British police equipped with sonar equipment started excavating the site on the Aegean island of Kos where the toddler went missing 21 years ago.
More than 40 officers and search and rescue volunteers participated in the painstaking process of digging up the area around an old farmhouse where the Sheffield boy disappeared.
Among the team were 16 search advisers drafted from units across the UK, and cadaver dogs trained in tracking human remains.
Stergios Sentouras, the highest ranking police official in the Northern Dodecannese, the chain of islands to which Kos belongs, said: "Technology has advanced so dramatically, the investigation will be like no other conducted so far. The investigation will be very, very methodical. We want to help in whatever way we can."
South Yorkshire police, who are leading the investigation on the ground, said the team would use scanning, sonar and ground penetration devices, focusing on a mound of rubble where the toddler may accidentally have been buried. The land lies within sight of the farmhouse that the boy's grandfather was renovating at the time of the disappearance.
"There are a number of scenarios but what we are looking at now is the possibility that rather than being snatched, something – an accident or otherwise – happened on the ground where a lot of construction work was in process at the time," a South Yorkshire police spokesman said. "There are two possibilities. Either we find something or we don't, and if we don't that eliminates one line of inquiry."
In the event that human remains were found, a lengthy process of identification through DNA analysis would follow.
Ben's mother, Kerry, flew to Kos with police family liaison officers. In a statement released by Sheffield police, she said: "I am so pleased that the investigation is now moving forward and that the Greek authorities are showing a true commitment to investigate Ben's disappearance."
The case has never received the attention given to that of Madeleine McCann, but more than 200 possible sightings of Ben have been reported over the years and Mrs Needham has followed up each one.
Ioannis Ioannidis, who runs the Kos Tribune, said the toddler's disappearance had cast "a long shadow over our island".
"It is a mystery that everyone wants to solve," he said. "Everyone, I know, has at some point asked what happened to that boy? We have to resolve this once and for all."
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Greek rights groups slam asylum process, call treatment of refugees 'degrading ... Fox News ATHENS, Greece – Human rights groups in Greece are accusing the government of subjecting asylum seekers to a "degrading and illegal" application process that aims to discourage them from formally requesting state protection. Fourteen local rights ... |
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Greece's Piraeus Bank to purchase Greek lender Geniki from Societe Generale Equities.com ATHENS, Oct 19, 2012 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Greece's Piraeus Bank sealed a deal for the purchase of Greek private lender Geniki Bank from French banking group Societe Generale, it was announced in Athens on Friday. Piraeus' acquisition of 99.1 ... |
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Greek rights groups slam asylum process Huffington Post ATHENS, Greece — Human rights groups in Greece are accusing the government of subjecting asylum seekers to a "degrading and illegal" application process that aims to discourage them from formally requesting state protection. Fourteen local rights ... |
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Rompui:Greece Must Reform to Remain in the Euro Greek Reporter Euro leaders welcome progress made by Greece and the Troika in reaching an agreement on the policies underpinning the adjustment program as well as the determination of the Greek government to deliver on its commitments. However, they say, Greece ... |
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Taxman cuts French banks' Greek bill by 2 bln euros Reuters French tax law - which has since been changed - allowed the banks to deduct taxes on capital injected into their ailing Greek units, analysts said, cushioning their bottom line from the maximum amount of pain after pre-crisis investments in Greece ... |
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 Business Recorder | SocGen to Sell Its Greek Bank Wall Street Journal PARIS—Société Générale SA said Friday that it agreed to sell its Greek unit, Geniki, to Piraeus Bank SA for €1 million ($1.31 million), closing the door on a difficult episode for the French bank and marking the second exit of a French lender from the ... SocGen Sells Greek Unit to Piraeus Amid Greek Banking Overhaul UPDATE 1-SocGen to take 100 mln eur hit on Greek exit Piraeus Bank Signs Deal Acquiring SocGen's Greek Unit |
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Anti-bailout party in Greece leads Samaras' conservatives in poll, far right ... Fox News ATHENS, Greece – An opinion poll in Greece says an anti-bailout leftist party has extended its lead over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' conservatives, while support for a far right party with strong neo-Nazi references has doubled since June's ... |
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 Kathimerini | Anti-bailout left tops Greek poll, far right third Boston.com ATHENS, Greece (AP) — An opinion poll in Greece says an anti-bailout leftist party has extended its lead over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' conservatives, while support for a far right party with strong neo-Nazi references has doubled since June's ... Euro area should be ready to unblock Greek aid, Juncker says |
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 AFP | Downton Abbey sparks uproar in Greece with gay kiss AFP ATHENS — A row has erupted in Greece's state broadcaster ERT over a decision this week to cut a scene showing two men kissing from the evening broadcast of award-winning British period drama "Downton Abbey". The company's managing director ... Downton Abbey Gay Kiss Cut in Greece |
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 Voice of America | Eurozone Leaders Praise Greek Austerity Efforts Voice of America (blog) Eurozone leaders are praising the efforts of debt-ridden Greece to resolve its financial woes and resume its cost-cutting austerity. Some of the 16 other countries in the euro currency bloc have often attacked Athens for its slow pace in adopting ... Greek rights groups slam asylum process |
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Business Recorder | SocGen Sells Greek Unit to Piraeus Amid Greek Banking Overhaul Bloomberg Societe Generale SA (GLE), France's second-largest bank by market value, agreed to sell its Greek unit to Piraeus Bank SA (TPEIR) to reduce risks tied to Europe's most indebted nation. Societe Generale will sell its 99.1 percent stake in Geniki Bank ... UPDATE 1-SocGen to take 100 mln eur hit on Greek exit Piraeus Bank Signs Deal Acquiring SocGen's Greek Unit |
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 CBC.ca | Greek PM says sure will get aid before cash runs out Nov. 16 Reuters Greek cash runs out on Nov. 16- Samaras. * PM says confident bailout payments will resume by then. * Hollande, Monti, to soon visit Athens. BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Debt-laden Greece expects to get the bailout money it needs before its cash runs ... Eurozone Leaders Praise Greek Austerity Efforts Greek anger over austerity not abating Greece Nears Aid Revival as Samaras Wins EU Summit Praise |
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 The Guardian | Ben Needham's disappearance is a matter for Greek police The Guardian What could possibly explain why a squad of British police officers want to leave wet and windy Yorkshire in October and spend a week on the Aegean island of Kos? While you puzzle that one out, let me say that I don't think it is the lure of the ouzo ... Greek, British police start joint search for Ben Needham, British toddler ... Ben Needham's mother flies to Greece as police prepare to dig up mound Mother backs new search for holiday boy missing 21 years in Greece |
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South Yorkshire police's decision to send officers to the island of Kos is astonishing at a time when services are being cut
What could possibly explain why a squad of British police officers want to leave wet and windy Yorkshire in October and spend a week on the Aegean island of Kos?
While you puzzle that one out, let me say that I don't think it is the lure of the ouzo and calamari that draws a group of South Yorkshire police officers to take part in a dig for the remains of Ben Needham fully 21 years after the then toddler disappeared on Kos while on holiday with his family.
I think it is more likely to be a combination of genuine concern to close a long unsolved crime and the effects of family pressure and media interest which creates the impression in police minds that this is the sort of compassionate act which the force should undertake.
Whether the attraction of some easy sympathetic publicity at a time when the South Yorkshire force's reputation is under such a profound cloud following the Hillsborough report is something about which one can only speculate.
But at a time when police forces around the country are close to explosion from indignation over cuts in budgets and person power it is little short of astonishing that South Yorkshire police should think it is a priority to send a squad of officers to Greece in the hope of finding a lead in a case which has stayed obstinately cold for a generation.
What does the chief constable think he is doing in authorising such a deployment of his scarce and expensive publicly funded resources, which is sadly unlikely to turn up anything new, in a time of austerity? It looks very much as though South Yorkshire police can't see straight on this case. One's heart goes out to the parents in this case, today as in 1991. Any parent, myself included, finding themselves is such a horrific situation, would want no effort spared in searching for answers, no matter how many years had passed. But tough decisions have to be taken in public services and searching again for clues about Ben Needham is not the UK police's job. That responsibility, if it still exists at all, rests with the Greek police.
When the news of this misguided Aegean operation was announced, I briefly thought that perhaps a good, elected police commissioner might be expected to stop a force doing this sort of thing. But a moment's reflection makes one realise that the reverse would be more likely. Elected commissioners would be even more susceptible to campaigns for such misuse of police resources. That's part of what is dangerous about the new elected system.
The police are sometimes unfairly criticised. But in a case like this they are their own worst enemy.
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