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

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I just read through the thread, and many of the links.

Andrew's dad sounds like a lovely man- I cant begin to imagine what his family has been through over all of these years.

Many of my thoughts echo those already expressed.

1. I don't think he ran away. If for no other reason, he left the 100 pounds in his bedroom. He waited until his parents and sister left, returned home, got changed, grabbed a few things and left. He knew he had the house to himself- so why not use that time to pack a few essentials, like the cash, charger and a few changes of clothes? I feel as though this was a day trip he thought he could get away with. The school's policy of calling parents if their child didn't arrive for class worried me a bit, because if he knew about that he would have known he would be busted, but if he had previously had a 100% attendance rate, he may well have had no idea someone would attempt to call his family. He wasn't hiding- he withdrew money using an atm. He didn't wear a cap to disguise his appearance on cctv. Doesn't sound like someone who was about to deliberately disappear.
2. I don't believe he was going to visit family. Too big a chance of being caught. Also- his parents had encouraged him to travel to London to see family in the very recent holidays, and he declined.
3. Andrew walked home from school a few times in the weeks before he disappeared. School had only been back in for eight days, so it must have been just before he disappeared. To me, this must be related to his disappearance. It sounds as though he was meeting up with someone on the way home. Question: What was Andrew doing during the day, during the holidays? Were his parents both at work? Who was he hanging out with? Andrew loved London, by all accounts, but when his parents suggested he go there during the holidays he declined. Why?? My gut says because he was hanging out with someone locally. Someone he then met up with a few times on his way home from school.
4. My theories: a) Andrews friend, whoever they were, travelled to London before Andrew, possibly the day before. Andrew planned to meet this person in London, for a reason unknown but that required more than 100 pounds but not more than 180 pounds. He did not need a return ticket because this person would be driving him home (making me believe that whoever it was must have been at least a few years older, to have a car and a licence).
b) Andrew travelled to London on behalf of his friend, to meet someone/deliver something to someone.
I believe Andrew had every intention of eating dinner with his family that night.

I've always been convinced the keys to this case lie locally and not London. I'm with you, I think whatever plan was hatched stemmed from someone he met or hung out with over the Summer holidays.

It sounds as though his parents were out at work when he usually got home from school, hence they assumed he was somewhere in the house the day he disappeared. I'm speculating but it's not unreasonable to assume they were out most of the day over the Summer too. Plenty of time for Andrew to hang out with/talk to/plan with his new friend.
 
Yes that's a possibility however the police didn't even seem to get CCTV to confirm what happened after the initial train journey.
His family canvassed the area significantly in the days following, including visiting businesses, attractions and venues. You would think someone would have recognised him or come forward with their CCTV. To vanish without a trace is so strange.

Quite possible. London is a transport hub after all and if he was heading further afield, the South Coast, Wales, Cornwall for example, he would probably have had to get a connecting train in London.
 
Yes I understand that but what are the chances of that happening AND him going missing for so long? What I mean is he must have been caught on loads of CCTV cameras around London and probably on CCTV of various premises such as shops, food places etc. What are the chances that not only does he go missing for so long AND that the police fail to gather ANY CCTV whatsoever? its just bizarre.

I am sure statistically its almost impossible to vanish in London due to more witnesses and more CCTV and no isolated areas, however that was not the case.

Sadly having spent some time on this and similar forums it’s really not that shocking. The police seem to feck up a lot. They were too busy investigating the family despite knowing within 24/48 hours Andrew had boarded a train to London. Alone. They knew what train. When it arrived in London etc and still they didn’t ask for CCTV.

I read a lot of true crime books and there seems to be a theme in these books where the police treat the family like criminals more often then not forgoing all other avenues of investigation until it’s too late.

I know statistically family’s are always suspects but surely one member of the department could have taken five minutes to call/email/fax the surrounding shops or tube/taxi/bus stations and say hey keep the CCTV we have a missing kid.
 
Just a thought, but what if London was not Andrew's intended destination?
He could have arrived then purchased another ticket to somewhere else- or even gone, did whatever he planned to do, then went missing on/after a return trip back home?
speculation, imo.
I think this is the first time i have heard this idea put out there in this thread about him catching another train or going back home on the same line and missing somewhere between the station and his house, its very possible and could explain why no one saw him because he jumped onto another train so quickly.

It may also be he got on the London tube as well. Something tells me he would not go all the way to London just to exchange trains but who knows. I think he stopped in London for a while, did what he planned to do then could have later jumped on another train to get across the country, is suspect he went west.

Putting myself into his shoes he was probably paranoid he may bump into someone who he would recognize (Family,friends,police) so getting out of London at some point made sense for him. If he was playing a game of cat and mouse with family/police he probably didn't stay in one place very long.

I think its fairly easy to get lucky and not be recognized by anyone, perhaps dye your hair, get a hat and sunglasses and you can cover up your look as well, of course that implies this was Andrews goal, i.e to not be recognized by anyone and continue to be on the run.

When i was his age i preferred trains to cars, still do! Trains were just that more cozy and getting in a car with a stranger at 14 was not something i would do. The only issue is he would not have gotten too far with the money he had. Which train lines have the cheapest tickets in the UK? East coast? West Coast? He could have probably used these over the years for cheaper travel perhaps to get around.

Did he book another train ticket in advance from one of the London stations going elsewhere? Could have done, its just the lack of evidence we have, someone who he met in London could have also bought the ticket for him like a friend who met him there or his friend or accomplice bought 2 tickets so Andrew did not have to buy the train ticket out of London thus he had no interaction with anyone and he is not recognized by anyone.

Anyone who may have seen him in London on that day may have long forgotten his face by the time his picture was put up as well.

One thing holds true to me though still today, if he is still around then i think someone was working closely with him or providing him money to keep him afloat or at least offered him some kind of job, this person kept their mouth closed about his whereabouts, i cant explain how he would survived otherwise.

If the recent news (months ago) is anything to go on, the people who think they recognized him online and some by face then i definitely hold a lot of hope for this case.
 
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I think this is the first time i have heard this idea put out there in this thread about him catching another train or going back home on the same line and missing somewhere between the station and his house, its very possible and could explain why no one saw him because he jumped onto another train so quickly.

It may also be he got on the London tube as well. Something tells me he would not go all the way to London just to exchange trains but who knows. I think he stopped in London for a while, did what he planned to do then could have later jumped on another train to get across the country, is suspect he went west.

Putting myself into his shoes he was probably paranoid he may bump into someone who he would recognize (Family,friends,police) so getting out of London at some point made sense for him. If he was playing a game of cat and mouse with family/police he probably didn't stay in one place very long.

I think its fairly easy to get lucky and not be recognized by anyone, perhaps dye your hair, get a hat and sunglasses and you can cover up your look as well, of course that implies this was Andrews goal, i.e to not be recognized by anyone and continue to be on the run.

When i was his age i preferred trains to cars, still do! Trains were just that more cozy and getting in a car with a stranger at 14 was not something i would do. The only issue is he would not have gotten too far with the money he had. Which train lines have the cheapest tickets in the UK? East coast? West Coast? He could have probably used these over the years for cheaper travel perhaps to get around.

Did he book another train ticket in advance from one of the London stations going elsewhere? Could have done, its just the lack of evidence we have, someone who he met in London could have also bought the ticket for him like a friend who met him there or his friend or accomplice bought 2 tickets so Andrew did not have to buy the train ticket out of London thus he had no interaction with anyone and he is not recognized by anyone.

Anyone who may have seen him in London on that day may have long forgotten his face by the time his picture was put up as well.

One thing holds true to me though still today, if he is still around then i think someone was working closely with him or providing him money to keep him afloat or at least offered him some kind of job, this person kept their mouth closed about his whereabouts, i cant explain how he would survived otherwise.

If the recent news (months ago) is anything to go on, the people who think they recognized him online and some by face then i definitely hold a lot of hope for this case.


I’ve always felt the person who talked Andrew into going to London was known to the family. There zero evidence of online presence at all. I know there’s the chance he met with foul play via a total stranger but the likelihood of that is so slim I can’t bring myself to believe the one day he chooses to ditch school is the one day he meets harm.

So I’ve always felt someone known to the family convinced him to go to London with them for an adventure/day out then they’d take him to his relatives there or bring him home.
 
New blog post from Andres dad. Contains a video of previously unreleased CCTV

Frozen in time
Thanks for this link!
andrew-s-ear_1.jpg
"Firstly, there is his unusually shaped right ear, a feature unlikely to alter and depicted on posters and elsewhere. There is the fact that he had a strong prescription for his spectacles. We know that this is likely to have changed significantly over these years, but there is no doubt that Andrew would continue to require strong prescription glasses or contact lenses. Thirdly, Andrew is deaf in his left ear. This means that his hearing is fine as the right ear is normal, but he cannot do stereo or locate sound easily. He would perhaps need to look around to see where a sound is coming from and sometimes turn the wrong way initially.

Another aspect that, excluding injury, is unlikely to have altered significantly is his walking gait. We have recently been given the video footage of him walking down our street on the day he disappeared. While not entirely clear, it does add some impression to his style of walking and so could perhaps provide another small clue to his identity."
 
I keep coming back to this case originally being from Doncaster and it really is unreal. I've changed my mind so many times on what happened but I'm 99% sure he's dead. Andrew might have been top 5% in the country for his age group when it came to Maths but he strikes me as somebody who has zero street smarts. That coupled with his very youthful look makes it extremely unlikely to me that he was able to look out for himself on the streets or put together any sort of independent life.

Someone who looks that young would not be able to get a job or place to stay as they're clearly a child. I've seen cases (particularly with girls) where someone's aged 13/14 and they could probably just about pass as adults at a push and maybe get some cash in hand shop work or bar work to support themselves but not a chance with Andrew. I just don't buy someone taking him in either, to not be seen he would have had to stay in the house for years until his apperance changed.

There's no evidence to support this, it's just putting ideas out there. Recently I read about the Corrie McKeague case and him almost certainly being killed by sleeping in a bin and it made me think of Andrew. As I say there's nothing to support it, but if similar happened to Andrew it would explain why there's never been a body found if he is dead, as they never found McKeague's body despite extensive searching.
 
So we have NEW FOOTAGE. And even though it has not been elaborated on I assume this is AFTER he dissapeared in London.... which explains a few things?

Andrew DID not meet anyone at the station?
Andrew DID not switch to another train and leave London?
Andrew WAS ALONE

So where was he headed? That looks like suburbia? Was he going to someones house?
 
So we have NEW FOOTAGE. And even though it has not been elaborated on I assume this is AFTER he dissapeared in London.... which explains a few things?

Andrew DID not meet anyone at the station?
Andrew DID not switch to another train and leave London?
Andrew WAS ALONE

So where was he headed? That looks like suburbia? Was he going to someones house?

No, this new CCTV footage is of Andrew walking in his own street on the morning he disappeared - before he took the train to London.
 
Damn - thats a real shame

I wish too that it had been after the train journey... Let’s hope someone, somewhere can take something from his Dad’s new post and figure something out. His Dad’s right - his gait and the other clues on his new post might jog someone’s memory. We should keep sharing it on social media. I really do feel he is still out there love him.
 
I think this is one of the very rare missing children cases where most people, including the family, believe he may be alive.
 
I think this is one of the very rare missing children cases where most people, including the family, believe he may be alive.

I'd love that to be true but I really don't know what they're basing it on. There's nothing to me that suggests he's alive. This is a 14 year old lad who didn't even look 14 with zero street smarts and very limited money. It's possible he started a new life or whatever the theory is but it's extremely unlikely, bordering on the unbelievable he could have actually pulled it off.
 
They had the wrong telephone number of his house ? Maybe a teacher changed it knowing they would ring and try and contact his parents. Andrew seemed rather relaxed that he would come back home just before them and they wouldn't know he missed school . Andrew was very bright and I'm sure more than aware if he missed school they would ring. I'm pretty sure he met up with someone he knew of a promise of a trip out and they reassured him that a) his parents wouldn't find out as they sorted out the number b) he'd be back home in time, c) not to tell anyone as helping him bunk off school could get them into big trouble.
I feel if he just wanted a day out to be an adult by himself etc he would of got a return ticket and possibly confided in his sister whom he was close to.
 
I've always been very interested in cases that involve missing people. I learned about Andrews disappearance a couple years ago through a youtube video. I was very interested in his story because most people who run away, if that is what he did, are older and are escaping financial problems or family issues. The fact that if a 14 year old boy ran away and could be alive today is insane to me.

I didn't read up on the case that much after but I recently just read a Vice article two days ago and once again I'm obsessed with the case again. And this time I read about the chat with the username, Andyroo. And, learning that roo was a nickname used for him as a child and the fact that this person said he left home at 14 makes me believe that this user was most definitely him. I wish they had released the website that this person was talking on. I really want to know what website it was or the year they chatted with this person. Could it have been Myspace? or just a random chatting site? I'm very curious and it's insane to me that your friend had contacted the helpline and they didn't do much! That is so upsetting to me, and I wish more people in the Lincoln area were on lookout constantly. I hope and I actually believe that Andrew is still alive, I hope he returns home and tells his story on why he left.
I wonder where a young looking 14 yr old would go though , couldn't get a job etc and a homeless shelter surely would contact ss ? Who would put up a young boy without asking questions
 
Like many I suspect something happened and, on the balance of probability, he is dead. However, I would like to dissent about the various comments regarding the amount of money he had and his ability to travel with such little money. This is for two reasons;
  • Firstly, the amount of money he had is assumed to be the amount that is known. He could very easily have saved other funds in cash and that would be unknown to parents and police.
  • Secondly, the UK rail system lends itself to free travel. I know this from student members of my sports club! UK rail tickets are not time limited and stamped in the same way as is common on the Continent and elsewhere (although many are day tickets which must be used on the day of purchase). What this means is that many tickets are discarded on arrival (in bins and on the ground) at stations and, if picked up, can be reused by the finder. If a ticket is not a day ticket it is valid for a full month. Whether he knew about this wrinkle at 14 is another question.
 
The night before Andrew appears normal and he hides in a park and returns to change his uniform. If you are leaving home why put your school uniform in the washing? As far as we know he is alone on the train to London. The last sighting seems to be either at Kings Cross or in a pizza place later. Then NOTHING for a boy with a crenellated ear who is small enough to make you wonder why he is alone. On the train he plays with the play station. If you just go for the day you take that sort of thing to play on but don't bother about a charger because you do not expect to be able to charge it.

He makes the journey with no coat. £200. A small bag and an play station box. That makes it look like he was planning on not spending that long away.

His body is not in the Thames which is the obvious place for a London suicide. (it has been dredged for him.) NO sightings pan out for Goth concerts etc.

There are relatives in places nearby. If he was out of money I would imagine it would not be that hard for him to get them to help. He likes museums and those are dry and out of the rain and cold for the day at least.

So what made him run? (I can go for just a feeling of wanting to scream such as takes over many adolescents, and maybe for once to do something daring.) He even puts his school uniform in the washing basket.

I do not think he meant to go far or for long. I think he just wanted a day out.

I agree. I think he put his uniform in the machine because that's what he aways did. If he wasn't home before good parents, which was unlikely, he could day he put his uniform in the machine then went out. If he was getting a lift home, he definitely wouldn't have been home before them. He thought about this.

I have just been reading up on this case and it’s so fascinating as Andrew’s behavior was so weird.

Why leave £100 at home but then withdrew £200 at a cash point?

He loved his PSP so why would he not of taken the charger if he was not planning to return home that day?

I don’t buy the fact he planned to commit suicide as why would you travel 2 and a half hours to a place like London to do that and then add in the fact he had taken £200 as well. That’s not a sign of planning to kill yourself..

I think he didn't take the cash with him because his parents might have noticed it missing, whereas with the account he could have replaced it, possibly because someone said they would give it to him, without them noticing and asking questions.

He didn't take the charger because he thought he was coming back.

Maybe he was walking home instead of in the bus because he was meeting up with someone.

I'm not sure about the internet use. He must have been really secretive about it for no one to notice. How could he have been groomed online if he hardly used the internet? He would have to be well into it in order for someone to have to opportunity to groom him, surely.

I think it's more likely he was lured to London by someone he knew l'm afraid. He may well have bought a single because that's what he as told to do. And of course, that made everyone, even the police think he'd done a bunk instead of looking at the CCTV in more detail.

He may have been intelligent but that doesn't translate to street sense.
 
How could he have been groomed online if he hardly used the internet? He would have to be well into it in order for someone to have to opportunity to groom him, surely.

You'd be surprised. I used to think the same until I saw programmes on the subject and some interviews with police officers who specialise in that area a few years ago. It was truly frightening how fast some of these predators can gain the victims trust.

His family claim he wasn't but I believe Andrew was bullied. I went to school in the same time period and a kid that looked like Andrew did, listened to the music he did and was clever would have been target number 1 for bullies. Stopping using the bus is another thing that bullied kids do which adds more weight to that theory.

Kids who are maybe bullied with few friends are prime targets for these people and it's much easier to gain their trust.
 
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