Missing Ben’s mum tells all in memoir
Kerry Needham - with mum Christine, left, and daughter Leighanna, right.
FOR more than two decades missing Ben Needham has made headlines around the world.
Now his mum, Kerry Needham, has penned her own moving book in which she tells the complete story of her son’s disappearance.
The book, simply called Ben, will be published in May, with proceeds being used to help fund the ongoing search effort.
Kerry’s memoir includes her account of the day her child vanished aged 21 months on the Greek island of Kos in 1991 – as well as revealing for the first time how she sought solace in a ‘party lifestyle’ after the incident.
Kerry, who is on a break in Turkey, says in the book: “Turkey has felt like my spiritual home from the moment I first arrived.
“Perhaps its proximity to Kos is one of the unseen pulls of the place.
“The only thing that counts is that Ben is found, he knows he is loved, and that he has always been loved, and that we have never given up our search.”
Kerry describes how she felt ‘total horror’ at first being suspected by the police, and how the family’s hopes were raised by reported sightings.
She also admits that, if Ben were found, he ‘may never want to know her’ - and that she resorted to clubbing to numb the pain of her loss.
Kerry left her daughter Leighanna with her parents for two months while she partied, a period during which she now says she ‘didn’t want to be a mum for a while’.
The case was reopened two years ago. A recent dig on Kos uncovered no trace of Ben.
The book will be published in hardback by Ebury Press on May 9, priced £16.99, and will also be available as an ebook.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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