His mother has been told to "prepare for the worst" by police who fear the 21-month-old, from Sheffield, may have been accidentally crushed to death by a digger in 1991 while on a family holiday in the Greek island of Kos (pictured below).
Speaking on Premier's News Hour, Rev Simon Bessant from St Saviour's Church in High Green, Sheffield, said: "Every family in Sheffield, every family in the country and beyond ...would be feeling for them and that awful sense of not knowing."
The possible breakthrough comes after a friend of digger driver Konstantinos Barkas, also known as Dino, came forward to say he believes the workman may have been accidentally responsible for Ben's death, according to the Daily Mirror.
Speaking with the newspaper about a recent visit from police, Ben's mother, Kerry, said: "What they had to tell me was the last thing they would have ever wanted to. They think my Ben could be dead and buried."
South Yorkshire Police revealed "new lines of inquiry" had emerged following a Greek media appeal in May, adding officers have "an open mind" and would be returning to Kos in the next few weeks.
Leader of the investigation, Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick, said: "There will be planned operational activity at two locations on the island that have been identified as areas of interest to the investigation.
"A dedicated policing team continues to work extremely hard to find answers for his family and keep them fully informed and supported throughout the investigation."
Rev Simon went on to the say that he had attended a prayer meeting on Friday for the family of Ben Needham, who vanished on July, 24th, 1991.
He added: "I think we all have our sympathies [for the family], not just upon learning of his very likely death but what they have been through, the hell they have been through for 25 years, of not knowing.
"I can hardly begin to image what that must feel like."
Listen to Premier's Aaron James speak to Rev Simon Bessant here: