South Yorkshire Police has told Kerry Needham it will no longer investigate the disappearance of her son Ben Needham, ending its role in one of the longest missing persons cases in Britain and Greece. The news was delivered to her during a video call with her family liaison officer.

The force said its major crimes unit will not handle any further inquiries into the case and that future investigations are now the responsibility of the Greek police. Kerry Needham said that leaves the search for Ben, who disappeared in Greece in 1986, effectively in the hands of authorities she says have long wanted the case to disappear.

Needham said the call left her stunned. “This is devastating news. The case will now fall solely to the Greek authorities. If this happens, I feel like I may as well give up the search for Ben because the Greek police have only ever wanted this case to go away,” she said. She added later that she was “horrified and in total shock and didn’t know what to say,” and that she sat shaking with her hand over her mouth, saying, “this is so wrong.”

The family had been expecting possible witness re-interviews and a meeting with the Greek public prosecutor, but Needham said both plans were scrapped. She said any new information would now be passed to Interpol and Greek authorities, and that she still believes there are avenues left to explore. “For nearly 35 years, we have fought every single day to keep Ben's case alive, to search for answers, and to make sure he is never forgotten. We believe there are still avenues to explore. This feels like a devastating step backwards,” she said.

South Yorkshire Police said it was stepping back because of time and resource pressures, while stressing that it remains ready to support Greek authorities if new evidence comes to light. The force said it is still committed to supporting Kerry and added that after 35 years it must make sure all appropriate routes are in place and remain fit for purpose.

For Needham, 51, the decision cuts at the one part of the investigation she says she could rely on. She said the police team had been her “lifeline” and the only people she trusted with the information she receives. “I feel abandoned,” she said, adding simply, “I will never.”

Ben’s disappearance has hung over the family for nearly 35 years. Kerry Needham and others have spent those years pressing for answers and trying to keep the case active, with two children in the wider family now carrying a grief that has never gone away. The latest move closes the door on a British police investigation that had remained alive for decades, even as the central question in Ben Needham’s fate still has no answer.