Ben Needham was last seen on the Greek island of Kos almost 33 years ago, when he was just 21 months old. And his mother, Kerry, is now awaiting the results of a DNA test after a man in Denmark claimed he could be the missing toddler.

Ben was last seen playing outside a dilapidated farmhouse in 1991 and his parents have not given up searching for him since. A man from Denmark claims his grandparents told him he was taken from Kos and insists his parents do not deny the claims.

The man says he was hidden for years and remembers going to a market 25 years ago and someone shouting “Ben” at him. He claims he was held in a caravan at the time, the Manchester Evening News reports.

READ MORE: The British tourists who never returned home after disappearing abroad

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Kerry, 51, from Sheffield, says she can never get her hopes up too high as this is the third such claim this year. She said: “This man is searching for his real family and he has given Danish police a sample of his DNA, which South Yorkshire Police are trying to obtain through Interpol to compare with Ben’s.”

The stranger’s DNA samples will be compared to a blood sample taken when Ben was born at Boston Hospital in Lincolnshire, for Guthrie’s routine heel prick test. Kerry added that she feels the pain of Jay Slater’s family and warns trolls about the further damage they are causing.

The 19-year-old was found dead in Tenerife earlier this week after a month-long search for him. He had travelled to the island to attend a music festival and then spent 11 hours trying to walk back to where he was staying.

Speaking about Jay’s loved ones, Kerry said her “heart is with them completely”. She added: “The only thing I can say to give them some comfort is that it’s better to know, because year after year of living without knowing is torture. I feel their pain.

“People have been so cruel. You have no idea the heartache and pain it causes. The trolling has to stop.”

Speaking about possible sightings of her son, Kerry added: “Over 33 years we’ve had hundreds of alleged sightings, most of which we’ve followed up on ourselves in the earlier years. We’ve had DNA taken from people in Greece, Turkey, Germany, one each in Florida and Australia.

“But at least South Yorkshire Police are trying to give me answers and I can’t praise them enough.”

Police suspect Ben died in a backhoe accident, but blood found at the scene in 2016 turned out not to be Ben’s. A witness who brought this theory to authorities has refused to speak to police.

Kerry added: “You can’t end an investigation without something to fall back on and the claim of a man who now won’t talk. I can’t believe it’s been 33 years and he’ll be 35 in October. My mother is 72 and my father is 76. I don’t want anything to happen to my parents without them knowing.”