Maria Mystery: No Link With Ben Needham Case

Written By Unknown on Senin, 21 Oktober 2013 | 16.12

Police say there is no link between the case of missing British boy Ben Needham and the discovery of a young blonde girl found living in a Roma settlement in Greece.

Ben - one of Britain's longest-running missing person cases - was 21 months old when he went missing on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

The four-year-old girl - known as Maria - was discovered living in a Gypsy camp near the Greek town of Farsala on Wednesday after a raid by police looking for drugs and weapons.

Maria A bedroom in the Roma house where Maria was found

South Yorkshire Police said there appears to be "no direct correlation" between the two cases.

In a statement, the force said: "The case of Ben Needham continues to be investigated by the Greek authorities and South Yorkshire Police continues to support his family.

Maria The alarm was raised when a prosecutor spotted a blonde child in the house

"No investigation is currently being carried out by the force in light of this recent case and officers from South Yorkshire Police will only become involved should authorities in Greece require our assistance."

A Roma couple accused of abducting the girl are due to appear in court in Greece later.

Ben NeedhamBen Needham digital portrait Ben Needham before he went missing in 1991 and how he might look today

They are being named in local papers as Hristos Salis, 39, and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, 40.

A prosecutor who accompanied police on the raid thought it odd that Maria did not look like her darker-skinned "parents".

GREECE-CHILDREN-POLICE-ROMA Roma stand next to the house where Maria lived in Farsala, central Greece

DNA tests later confirmed the couple are not her biological parents.

Greek authorities have put out a worldwide appeal to help identify the youngster and find her real family.

As Maria is being cared for in Athens by the charity Smile Of The Child, the Roma community in Farsala is said to be anxious about the attention the case is attracting.

GREECE-CHILDREN-POLICE-ROMA The Roma community in the town number about 2,000

In a country already devastated by economic crisis, the Roma in the camp make a living selling fruit, carpets, blankets, baskets and shoes at local markets.

They are already considered by some to be social outcasts, thieves and beggars, and now they are worried they will be wrongfully stigmatised as kidnappers and child traffickers.

GREECE-CHILDREN-POLICE-ROMA The community insists they are not child-traffickers or kidnappers

The president of the local Roma community, Babis Dimitriou, said he hoped there would not be a backlash following Maria's discovery.

"There are no transactions involving children here," he said, adding that the couple cared for the little girl "even better than for their own children".

The Roma in Farsala insist their community is not involved in abductions or trafficking.

But police say they are aware of "dozens" of such cases involving Bulgarian Roma in Greece.

Lieutenant General Vassilis Halatsis said: "We know these cases exist, but they involve Bulgarians, not Greeks like us."

Local resident Christos Lioupis said: "After this event, the police have been searching everyone. Isn't this racist?"


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