The mother of missing Ben Needham is pleading for police to investigate a tiny village in Greece where eight witnesses have claimed to have seen her son.

Earlier this month, the Home Office agreed to fund a team of British detectives to help search for the toddler, who went missing in Greece more than 20 years ago.

Ben, from Sheffield, vanished, aged 21 months, on July 24, 1991, after travelling to the Greek island of Kos with his mother and grandparents.

Now, Kerry Needham is urging detectives to use the £700,000 funding to visit the 'strange little village' in Veria on the Greek mainland - hundreds of miles from Kos - where eight witnesses claimed they spotted Ben.

Ben Needham, left, was just 21 months old when he went missing on Greek holiday island Kos in 1991. His mother Kerry, right, has never stopped the search for her son

Ben's family have said they want South Yorkshire Police to investigate leads, including a file they have handed in that lists eight separate sightings in the mid to late 90s from unconnected people of a boy who could potentially be Ben with the same Greek family.

Ms Needham told The Mirror: 'I'm praying they will listen to me and follow up these sightings.'

'We have searched all over the world but it always comes back to this strange little village.

'I am sure the key to finding my son lies with this family. I believe 99% Ben was there 1994 to 1998.'

In 2012, the Home Office backed a South Yorkshire Police operation when land was excavated on Kos, near the farmhouse from where Ben went missing.

But no trace of the little boy was found.

Kerry Needham is urging detectives to visit a village in Veria, pictured, on the Greek mainland - hundreds of miles from Kos - where eight witnesses claimed they spotted Ben

Ben's family were on a trip to Kos, above, in 1991 when the toddler went missing. He was being looked after by his grandparents at the time

South Yorkshire Police Officers and two sniffer dogs on the Greek Island of Kos to excavate and search for remains of missing boy Ben Needham

The Home Office agreed to fund a team of British detectives to help search for the toddler. Pictured, a digital portrait of what Ben Needham may look like now

After the funding announcement, Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick, who led the 2012 investigation, said: 'Ben was a very young child when he went missing.

'His family has endured untold pain and anguish in the years that followed and have never given up in trying to find him.

'South Yorkshire Police has provided support to the Greek authorities wherever requested in assisting with the investigation.

'We hope that by continuing to work with them, we can assist in providing the answers Ben's family so desperately want.

'We will now take time to establish the right investigation team, with a view to the inquiry commencing in April.'

Ben Needham's mother Kerry, right, with her mother Christine on the island of Kos in Greece in 2012 while South Yorkshire police search for Ben