The mother of a missing boy says she believes her son is alive after new testimony has suggested that he could be living in Corfu.
Kerry Needham is pinning her hopes on three new witness statements that claim her son Ben Needham, who went missing on the island of Kos, could be a blond boy who was found that year on a beach 587 miles away in Corfu.
Recently, Ben's 49-year-old mum told The Mirror she's scared to get her hopes up in case the claims turn out to be wrong.
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She said: "I feel like I'm a tree in the middle of a tornado. I'm desperately trying not to get my hopes up but I can't stop thinking about it. I woke up this morning shaking."
Ben was just 21 months old when he went missing - in 2016, a police enquiry saw a leading inspector state his 'professional belief' that Ben had died on 24 July 1991, as a result of an accident involving 'heavy machinery'.
He was staying at his grandparents' farmhouse on the Greek island when he vanished but Kerry Needham believes her son is still alive.
She told The Daily Mirror: "I still have that hope that South Yorkshire Police are wrong. And while there is no evidence to show me, I have to believe he is still alive.
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"There's not a single thread of evidence to say otherwise."
She added that she feels 'stuck' in 1991 and has devoted three decades to the search of her son, adding: "I've never had any dreams or goals apart from finding Ben."
Detectives from South Yorkshire Police carried out a three-week search of Kos in 2016.
Speaking at the time, then Detective Inspector Jon 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.
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"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 events leading up to and following that incident have been explored by my team of experts to great lengths. The fact that we have not had a direct result during this visit to Kos does not preclude the facts that we know to be true."
He said the investigation would not close and new information would be looked at, adding: "We will not stop in our quest to find further answers for Ben's family."
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