Heartbreak for Needham family after emotional visit to Greece

Three generations of the Needham family have recently returned from Greece after meeting a man who believed he could be Ben Needham, the toddler who disappeared from the island of Kos in July 1991.

Ben's mum Kerry, his grandmother Christine and sister Leighanna all went to Greece to have blood tested against his, to see if there was a familial link with the family.

The women travelled out there after receiving information that the man had no photographs of himself under the age of two, and he didn't even know where he was born. Not only was he the same age he also had links with a Greek family whose name had been historically linked to Ben's disappearance.

The family believed this could be the closest they had ever come to meeting the toddler, who vanished from a farmhouse being renovated by his grandparents in Irakles, Kos, on July 24 1991.

Kerry, Christine and Leighanna met the man, who they believed has a strong physical resemblance. They decided to have a blood test despite a previous DNA test on a toothbrush which came back negative. After a wait of over a week in a hotel on the Greek mainland, the blood test result also came back negative.

A swab was also taken, which was brought back to the UK by ITV Calendar producer Mark Witty and handed to South Yorkshire Police. This too confirmed the man was not Ben.

Mark Witty reports from Greece and Kerry Wood tells Duncan Wood about the family's heartbreak after the DNA results: