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A new police investigation of the case of Ben Needham, aged one and a half, who disappeared on 24 July 1991 on the island of Kos is in progress again. This time the authorities are seeking a 24 -year-old boy in Cyprus after a report presented by a lawyer who was formerly engaged in the search.

On Sunday, Cypriot police spokesman Andreas Angelidis said that Nicosia had received a report from the Greek branch of Interpol. The Greek authorities had requested assistance to confirm the information that Ben was probably in Cyprus, living with a Roma family.

A video shot in a church in Cyprus this Easter has raised the doubts, as it shows a young man who looks a lot like Ben, the boy in the digitally processed image.

Meanwhile, Ben’s family in the UK has confirmed that they are aware of the existence of the particular video.

Dimokratiki newspaper reports that the president of the Lawyers Association in Kos, Panagiotis Avritis, had received the video from his source. The video shows a Roma family and a young blond man with blue eyes among them. According to the lawyer’s source, the young man is living in Limassol, in a village inhabited mostly by Roma. He arrived in the village a few years ago, from Greece, to avoid the mandatory military service.
 
Doubts that Roma may have abducted Ben have existed since the beginning of his search. The family says that sources had informed them even then that Roma had been involved in Bens’ disappearance.

In 2005, prosecutor of Kos Andreas Karaflos had ordered inspections in the Roma camps in Larissa and Veria. Sources claim that he is aware of the new information on the case, in the prosecution of the Court of Appeal in Athens, where he is working at present.

"Every minute we pray for Ben and we expect good news," says Ben's mother, Kerry Needham. She said she had not seen the video that has revived her hope that her son has been found. "I only saw the images published by the Greek media but the face is quite blurred. I am not sure if this is really my son. However, I am an optimist. I will be waiting and I am in constant contact with the British police."

Kerry Needham said that in the event of hopeful signs related to the case she would take "the first plane to Greece".