The Digger Driver Theory.

According to South Yorkshire Police, a new witness came forward in May 2016 following a press conference held on the island of Kos, which appealed for anyone with information to come forward. As a result of this new testimony, investigators pursued claims that an accident may have occurred on the day Ben Needham disappeared.

These developments prompted an excavation of two areas of interest located in and around the farmhouse where Ben was last seen. The planned operation commenced on 26 September 2016, conducted in collaboration with forensic experts, search and rescue teams, and the Greek authorities.

The search lasted for three weeks and aimed to uncover any evidence supporting the theory that Ben may have been accidentally killed and subsequently buried as a result of construction work involving a digger.

The dig was so extensive they even found an ancient burial site along with many animal bones but no other human bones were discovered.

Forensic experts were able to determine that soil samples taken from mounds of rubble where the digger driver dumped his rubble could be dated back to 1991 but again no human remains were found, although other items of interest had already been sent off for forensic analysis including a small piece of leather belonging to a sandal which was found in 2012 on a previous search of the area which later was found to contain decomposed blood on it.
Nearing the end of the investigation at site 2 a toy car was found which Ben could have had in his possession that day, this was forensically examined and contained decomposed blood within soil inside the toy that could be dated to 1991 when tested against soil samples already held by the forensic experts.
South Yorkshire police said the development corroborates and strengthened the theory Ben died in an accident.

On completion of the excavation on 16th October 2016 South Yorkshire police gave a statement to a press conference that it was his professional opinion and based on the balance of probability that an accident did occur resulting in the death of Ben
Scientists confirmed that it was in fact human blood and further testing was required to link them directly to Ben.

This discovery initially brought hope that we might finally learn the truth about what had happened to Ben, however painful that truth might be. Yet, after two long years of waiting and grief, forensic experts concluded that the DNA found on the recovered items did not match Ben's.

This news left us deeply confused and emotional. The main question that remains is: if it isn’t Ben’s blood, then whose is it?

We were informed that this information was passed on to the Greek authorities for further investigation, but to this day, we still have no answers.
While we understand how South Yorkshire Police reached their conclusion, without any physical or forensic evidence, the search for Ben as a missing person must continue.