Police teams searching for clues surrounding the disappearance of Ben Needham have found “areas of decomposition” near the spot where the toddler went missing 25 years ago.
UK and Greek officers have spent the week excavating land around an old farmhouse on the island of Kos, as they investigate claims the British youngster may have been accidentally run over by a local digger driver.
On Thursday morning, the inquiry’s chief investigator Detective Inspector Jon Cousins revealed officers had taken soil samples from the area last year.
Several of the samples tested positive for signs of decomposition.
Inspector Cousins said: “It is ground-breaking work, we are able to narrow down the decomposed matter to specific animals. One of the samples has been revealed to be canine remains and another is a specific species of bat.”
However, the inspector said forensic analysis of other samples, by scientists in Aberdeen, had been unable to determine whether the decomposition traces were linked to animals or are human.
“There are nutrients in the soil that are consistent with the decomposition of something. The scientists have been unable to determine what it is,” he said.
Ben Needham, who was just 21 months old at the time he disappeared, had been playing outside near the old farmhouse, while his grandparents sheltered from the sun inside.
Local digger driver Konstantinos Barkas had been clearing land around the farmhouse at the time.
He died of cancer last year and just months later a local man came forward to tell police he believed Mr Barkas had accidentally crushed the toddler, but had then panicked and buried him in a nearby olive grove.
After several days of renewed searching, police have yet to make a significant discovery around the farmhouse, but have recovered “some items of possible interest”.
On Thursday afternoon, police announced work on part of the excavation site had been suspended after the discovery of an ancient burial site.
The skeletons of four adults were found lying next to each other, with ancient pottery artefacts covering their skulls.
A team of local archaeologists are now examining the find, which they say is consistent with a burial site darting back to between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago.
Investigators are still able to work around the majority of the olive grove search scene and will resume excavations at the burial site once the archaeologists have completed their examination.
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