UK UK - Andrew Gosden, 14, Doncaster, South Yorks, 14 Sept 2007

[Robin Hood]

Thinking on, he could have turned right to get to St Pancras station a hop and a step away. I guess CCTV there was checked.

 

[romany_star]

I suppose the tube station steps, if he knew what he was doing with the tube, were on the right also.... I juts thought maybe a cab as there was no more cctv. But possibly it was overwritten. No-one has ever come forward elsewhere in London saying they've got him on cctv either and I think the sightings are false, as he hasnt been found and its not that easy to go missing. Runaways get picked up by irate police and undercover police daily, older beggers grass them up as well as they dont want competition from younger people who get more money. Its not that easy to stay missing unless you have money for new ID and a proper place to stay, oh and a new appearance (lots of money needed really). He wasnt a streetwise kid either, £200 to him may have seemed loads BUT in London this would disappear fast.

 

[Jackalyn]

London is crawling with CCTV, why is he never again caught on CCTV after being at the train station?? I think the answer is that as he comes out the station he turns right and this is where the taxi rank is, I know this station well. I believe he got a cab and then something happened....either a dodgy taxi driver or the driver took him somewhere and something happened. As he comes out the doors and turns right, he's looking confident like he knows what hes doing...he doesnt look lost.

A long while ago I had a fb conversation with Andrew's Dad. My understanding of what he said is that police did not look at CCTV early enough and it gets wiped.

I think you may be right about the Taxi. If he took out £200 for a day trip with a lift back then the amount of money makes sense for getting a London cab- I do wonder if the cab drivers were ever questioned.

The gig does sound a possible thing for him to head for-maybe thinking he would have an adventure and hitch hike back?

 

[shadowdancer]

I grew up in Doncaster, but I no longer live there.

My friend believes that she saw Andrew last year at Kings Cross.

She said that they were walking towards each other and they literally brushed past each other. She told me that as soon as she saw him coming towards her, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she tried to get a good look at him.

She says she only got a quick look, but she is 99% sure that he had the ridge on his ear.

She knows this case well because her home town is very close to Doncaster and she was absolutely positive that it was him.

She reported the sighting to the Missing Persons Helpline, but felt frustrated because they didn't seem bothered even though she was positive it was him and had hoped that they might be able to check the CCTV for him (he was carrying a large rucksack with a rolled up blue sleeping mat if I remember correctly).

I really hope that Andrew comes home one day, I have always wondered about him.

 

[wfgodot]

Hi shadowdancer, and welcome to WS.

 

[shadowdancer]

Hi.

 

[rachaellouise]

That's amazing if it is him!

 

[shadowdancer]

That's amazing if it is him!

My friend is convinced that it was him and I think that she must be right.

My friend is very observant and quick thinking and as I said already - she is very familiar with Andrew's case. When she told me about it, she just kept saying that he looked so utterly like Andrew that from the moment she saw him she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

She was trying to navigate herself and her disabled child through the station on a busy weekend day at the time but she said that she was just fixated on this young man and she made sure that she looked at his ear as they passed each other. She only got a quick glance - not long enough to confirm that his ear was an exact match to the one in Andrew's pictures, but long enough to see that this young man had some sort of abnormality on his ear that was at the very least, very similar to Andrew's.

She says that he looked the right age to be Andrew - a young man in his late teens or so, and that he was carrying a large rucksack that looked pretty full and which had a rolled up mat attached to it. She said that he looked as if he was carrying all his worldly goods, but he didn't look like he was particularly dirty or unkempt.

As I say, she reported all of this and had hoped that they would check the CCTV, but they just took down the details and didn't seem that bothered about it.

I think that she left her contact details, but as far as I know she has never been contacted again.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Sponsored by Sheffield couple’s poignant story on the heartbreak of losing their child

One South Yorkshire couple know more than most the trauma of having a child run away from home – and they still don’t know why after five-and-a-half years.

Andrew Gosden was only 14 when he skipped school in Doncaster and caught a train to London in September 2007, never to be heard from again.

More: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheff...he-heartbreak-of-losing-their-child-1-5381008

 

[hayaletcatcher]

After wondering where Andrew is often I was so glad to see Missing Persons taking out a advert in The Big Issue (http://www.bigissue.org.uk/) drumming up donations to help run the charity , and promotion into helping long missing people get back in touch. With the help of Andrews family, Using his case and his mothers drive to get his name and the charities work, out there.

Part of his mothers ad https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/missing-people/donate/mum

The ad had raised £1650 as of the start of this month.

Andrews father blogged about it -http://helpustofindandrew.weebly.com/blog.html

 

[alllads]

The shameful thing is that the police did not bother tracking down more CCTV than that. I'm not a member of, but read, the Andrew Gosden FB group and his father Kevin says the police at the time didn't seek out more CCTV, or look for CCTV on busses. ALL busses have CCTV, and King's Cross in 2007 was already swarming with CCTV. And the worst thing is, it's too late for it now.

From Kevin Gosden on FB:

"Kevin Gosden Same with us - if the police had bothered to look at CCTV from Kings Cross tube station and buses for example, would we have Andrew back? If they had followed up plausible sounding sightings within a reasonable time frame at the outset??? I guess I may spend my life wondering about this..."

I feel so terribly for this family, and for Andrew. I've always watched this case and keep an eye out for Andrew, he went missing about a month after I moved to London. From what I can tell his family has done everything imaginable, they've even been in touch with Andrew's favourite bands and had the bands publicise his disappearance, passed out flyer at concerts, kept the search up. Where is he? I live near King's Cross and pass the station every day and think, where could he have gone?

My hope is that he left by himself, maybe he wrongly thought his family didn't accept him, and now feel ashamed to come back. I really hope he is found.

 

[YidArmyRach]

The shameful thing is that the police did not bother tracking down more CCTV than that. I'm not a member of, but read, the Andrew Gosden FB group and his father Kevin says the police at the time didn't seek out more CCTV, or look for CCTV on busses. ALL busses have CCTV, and King's Cross in 2007 was already swarming with CCTV. And the worst thing is, it's too late for it now.

From Kevin Gosden on FB:

"Kevin Gosden Same with us - if the police had bothered to look at CCTV from Kings Cross tube station and buses for example, would we have Andrew back? If they had followed up plausible sounding sightings within a reasonable time frame at the outset??? I guess I may spend my life wondering about this..."

I feel so terribly for this family, and for Andrew. I've always watched this case and keep an eye out for Andrew, he went missing about a month after I moved to London. From what I can tell his family has done everything imaginable, they've even been in touch with Andrew's favourite bands and had the bands publicise his disappearance, passed out flyer at concerts, kept the search up. Where is he? I live near King's Cross and pass the station every day and think, where could he have gone?

My hope is that he left by himself, maybe he wrongly thought his family didn't accept him, and now feel ashamed to come back. I really hope he is found.

I always look out for him when I'm in London. I know its mad, as its like looking for a needle in a haystack, but this disappearance is one of a handful that I can't get out of my mind.

Its just so strange, with him refusing to get a return train ticket despite it being only a few pence more - but not having any clothes or supplies with him to indicate a longer stay. No clues, no electronic trail and no hint of anything unusual leading up to his disappearance, which is very strange for a 14 year old.

My opinion is that someone older is involved, and that this person arranged things and persuaded him to keep it a secret. I can't believe 14 year old could cover up their plans/movements so perfectly.

I really hope this gets solved as, from what I've read, Andrew's dad in particular has struggled to cope with this to the point of considering suicide.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

The Disappearance of Andrew Gosden

New age-progression (another one below).

http://childalerts.org.uk/?p=1356&fb_source=pubv1

 

[alreetlike]

This is the first time I've read this thread. Andrew's case was the first time I realised I had an interest in missing people, when I saw a poster on the inside of a toilet cubicle door in a pub a few years ago.

It seems he just ran away but I can't decide if it was to meet someone, or just because he wanted to get away on his own.

 

[rachaellouise]

It's one of those cases with no rhyme or reason. I honestly have no inkling as to what a more likely scenario is with Andrew.

 

[Jackalyn]

The McStay case got me thinking. I am not sure if this is a plausible theory but in the absense of any lead at all, I thought it was worth sharing my thoughts.

i think someone had access to the McStay house and that they were somehow able to do the Mexico search. That is what kind of got me from a to b.

Andrew is apparently fine the night before he disappears.

What if there was another person around making Andrew withdraw the money from his bank account?

What if he is accosted on the way to school, made to withdraw the money and then to return home and change (because a school uniform is too conspicuous/)

What if Andrew left his clothes in a the washing machine as a sign to his parents.

What if the ticket he bought was because someone was making him and getting one way was a kind of intelligent thing for Andrew to do while being watched?

Andrew probably wasn't going to relatives. He would most likely to have been sure to take the charger for his playstation if he was - or if he was running away.

Who was actually in the station when Andrew bought the ticket?

Who was on the train?

Was Andrew really alone at Kings Cross.

Was there a burglary that resulted in harm to Andrew at Kings Cross?

or was here a taxi waitingta. Kings Cross is a very dangerous place for runaways.

I just think that like the McStays, he would have been seen by now if alive or not taken.

I don't think he just ran away.

The captured by a gang for illicit purposes makes sense when you get a random person trying to report something at a Police station and then disappearing.

Did they ever search properly for that man? If he was taking a chance and in danger trying to report that would explain why he didn't return to report what he thought happened to Andrew.

 

[shadowdancer]

Jackalyn - I like people who think outside the box, although I am not sure about whether I believe that Andrew was being forced to leave. It just seems like an overly complicated way of doing it. Why wouldn't they have just snatched him one day on the way to school?

That said, there is nothing to say that you theory definitely couldn't have happened. That's what is so mystifying about Andrew's case, there is no obvious theory which seems to completely fit. Its just such an odd case.

For what is worth, I believe that my friend's sighting was Andrew. She is very, very sharp, she says she is sure it was him and I believe her.

 

[alllads]

Just had a sudden thought. When it's been written that Andrew insisted on a single ticket and refused a return when offered - was it a day return that was offered to him that he refused, or an open return? Because that makes some difference, did he intend to come back but in a week?

I've always thought that he left to go meet someone and intended to run away, but then SOMETHING happened and he didn't/couldn't come back. Either he came into some harm, or fell into a bad crowd after leaving.

 

[Jackalyn]

Jackalyn - I like people who think outside the box, although I am not sure about whether I believe that Andrew was being forced to leave. It just seems like an overly complicated way of doing it. Why wouldn't they have just snatched him one day on the way to school?

That said, there is nothing to say that you theory definitely couldn't have happened. That's what is so mystifying about Andrew's case, there is no obvious theory which seems to completely fit. Its just such an odd case.

For what is worth, I believe that my friend's sighting was Andrew. She is very, very sharp, she says she is sure it was him and I believe her.

I do agree it is a complicated theory. I was just really exploring options. I just so want Andrew found. I go to Kings Cross reasonably often as I sometimes preach in one of our church plants there and I always have to get someone to pray Andrew is found.

It does strike me though that stealing £200 minus the train fare might be something someone would do.

I do hope your friend is right, but somehow I think if it was Andrew he would have talked to someone in the family by now unless a pedophile gang has him in their clutches.

 

[shadowdancer]

Andrew comes across to me as somebody who 'feels' very deeply. He also comes across as someone who was quite introverted, possibly quite a 'worrier'.

This would probably make him quite susceptible to depression, anxiety and similar mental health conditions that might contribute to someone deciding to run away. If this was the case then he may simply not be able to face contacting his family.