[3] In October 2012, South Yorkshire Police began to follow a line of inquiry which suggested that Ben had been accidentally killed and buried in a mound of rubble by an excavator driver working in a field adjoining the house where he was last seen.
[5] Detective Inspector Jon Cousins, heading the inquiry, said: "It is my professional belief that Ben Needham died as a result of an accident near to the farmhouse in Iraklis where he was last seen playing.
The recovery of this item, and its location, further adds to my belief that material was removed from the farmhouse on or shortly after the day that Ben disappeared.
On the day of his disappearance, Ben had been left in the care of his grandparents, Eddie and Christine Needham, while his mother went to work at a local hotel.
"[11] Following a request from UK Prime Minister John Major, the Hellenic Army undertook further searches of the island in January 1993.
In December 1995, Stratos Bakirtzis, a private investigator, found a blond boy, aged around six years old, living with a Romani family in a camp located in Salonika, Greece.
[18] Crosby was sent, by a holidaymaker who visited Turkey in 1999, a photograph depicting a number of Turkish village children, including a blond boy who resembles the age-progression photo of what Ben might look like at age 13.
[20][21] Carol Sarler, writing in The Times in 2007, said: "I have repeatedly asked police and press, British and Greek, for a single example to support this rumour.
Those of us who properly investigated Ben's disappearance are certain he was not [abducted]; put bluntly, a child less than 2, toddling unsupervised for five hours on a baking, remote, inhospitable hillside that is still largely unsearched, is easy prey to the lonely accident.
"[20] In September 1992, South Yorkshire police used electronic facial identification technique (E-FIT) software to produce an image of how Ben might appear at age 3.
[26] The operation, involving geophysical survey equipment, forensic archaeologists and human remains detection (HRD) dogs, was triggered by a police line of inquiry into whether Ben had been accidentally buried as a result of an excavator driver dumping building rubble nearby.
Cousins said: "My team and I know that machinery, including a large digger, was used to clear an area of land on 24 July 1991, behind the farmhouse that was being renovated by the Needhams.
"[6] In July 2017, South Yorkshire Police announced that traces of blood were found on a fragment of a sandal, as well as on soil from inside a toy car, both items believed to belong to Ben.