UK UK - Andrew Gosden, 14, Doncaster, South Yorks, 14 Sep 2007 #2

[Grouse]

1. The lack of known PC usage. It's not just the police can't find the evidence, nobody can even recall him using a PC that much.

But we know he had a PSP and seemed to use it a lot. In 2007 he would have probably had a PSP-1000 or PSP-2000. These can connect to the internet and come with the PSP Internet Browser. I'm no gaming device expert but I believe this can be done without activating the device on the Sony system (which Sony said never happened) - this article would imply that this is possible How to Connect a PSP to the Internet (with Pictures) - wikiHow

So without wanting to make too much of this point, it seems quite possible to me that he could actually have been using the internet rather a lot and nobody would have known. Unless LE checked the ISP logs for the broadband at his home, the only other evidence will have been on the PSP itself, which he took with him.

MOO

 

[rosesfromangels]

But we know he had a PSP and seemed to use it a lot. In 2007 he would have probably had a PSP-1000 or PSP-2000. These can connect to the internet and come with the PSP Internet Browser. I'm no gaming device expert but I believe this can be done without activating the device on the Sony system (which Sony said never happened) - this article would imply that this is possible How to Connect a PSP to the Internet (with Pictures) - wikiHow

So without wanting to make too much of this point, it seems quite possible to me that he could actually have been using the internet rather a lot and nobody would have known. Unless LE checked the ISP logs for the broadband at his home, the only other evidence will have been on the PSP itself, which he took with him.

MOO

Agree. Kids are notorious about aspiring to not leave an evidentiary trail in many of their activities. If Andrew had some grand escape in mind (if only for a concert trip in his own mind), he was likely purposeful in covering his tracks to the degree he did.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[elletheduck]

But we know he had a PSP and seemed to use it a lot. In 2007 he would have probably had a PSP-1000 or PSP-2000. These can connect to the internet and come with the PSP Internet Browser. I'm no gaming device expert but I believe this can be done without activating the device on the Sony system (which Sony said never happened) - this article would imply that this is possible How to Connect a PSP to the Internet (with Pictures) - wikiHow

So without wanting to make too much of this point, it seems quite possible to me that he could actually have been using the internet rather a lot and nobody would have known. Unless LE checked the ISP logs for the broadband at his home, the only other evidence will have been on the PSP itself, which he took with him.

MOO

Except Sony confirmed that not only did Andrew not have an account, it was never online. The Sony PSP 1000 had a DNAS authentication system allowing Sony to see when a PSP had connected to the internet. (This is in the instruction manual.)

Also, even without it, wifi in 2007 was not as easy as it is now to get online. Very few places had free wifi and he had no wifi at home.

So the cops did check where he was likely to use internet and found no trace he did so. Plus, his own family says he wasn't all that social, so using friends' internet (largely wired) wasn't really a thing he'd likely to do.

Not saying none of this happened online, but there is a lot of information saying this was not how he contacted anyone, or potentially did.

Edit: reported here

4m20s

 

[Grouse]

The Sony PSP 1000 had a DNAS authentication system allowing Sony to see when a PSP had connected to the internet. (This is in the instruction manual.)

Fair enough, if that's the case, I thought it was worth exploring anyway.

Also, even without it, wifi in 2007 was not as easy as it is now to get online. Very few places had free wifi and he had no wifi at home.

No, free wifi wasn't as readily available then as now (certainly wasn't available on trains), but I do recall around 2007 that it was available in places like Starbucks and MacDonalds in the UK because I remember a colleague at work went round testing it on his work laptop as part of a project to look at the security aspects (that was his excuse for getting out of the office anyway).

 

[Grouse]

reported here

4m20s

Interesting, on a different tack after watching that video, I'd forgotten the bit about how Andrew had woken a bit later than usual that day and been a bit grumpy. I know how teenagers can sleep, but it makes me think that if he was planning this big day out he'd have been less likely to do that. Just speculation really but it makes me wonder if he didn't want to go to school that day for some reason, and thus if it was more an impulse decision after all.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Interesting, on a different tack after watching that video, I'd forgotten the bit about how Andrew had woken a bit later than usual that day and been a bit grumpy. I know how teenagers can sleep, but it makes me think that if he was planning this big day out he'd have been less likely to do that. Just speculation really but it makes me wonder if he didn't want to go to school that day for some reason, and thus if it was more an impulse decision after all.

Alternatively, he might have been up late in to the night plotting the next day, or secretly communicating with someone, and thus tired....

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[CocktailQueen]

I don’t think he used the PSP online. If he did what would he have connected it to? The family had only recently got a computer/lap top so surely it would have been a wired connection. Free wifi was rarely available in 2007.

Could he have had a mobile phone? Maybe someone gave him one, possibly just a basic payone which he kept hidden and used to contact the person he was groomed by (if groomed in person)? I think his parents said he had had 2 mobiles previously, but had lost or broken them. Maybe he hadn’t and had kept one? I wonder if they ever tried ringing the number of his old phone.

 

[HockeyMomDiva]

I just finished watching a video on YouTube (The BoyWho Took A Train and Never Came Home) about this case. My theory is that he was groomed or tricked into traveling to London. He was described as an avid video gamer. He had an x-box console. When my sons were younger, they played constantly and have on occasion, chatted with fellow gamers online while playing. Has this been investigated? It is also noted that he had a PSP mini device that he used and actually had on him when he disappeared was determined not to have shown any evidence of chats. I believe that XBox and PSP are separate platforms until only recently, but don’t quote me on that. Was this a predator that lured him with promises of going to the concert? Or, was it an actual friend he made online that had no evil intent and that they were harmed before/during/after the concert? I’m just going the concert angle based on his love of metal music, what he was wearing, his sense of boredom and perhaps a longing for an adventure.

These are just my thoughts.

 

[angel2702]

At 14 he would have been a bit old to have been a cub scout (normal age range: 7 - 12). I'm not at all surprised that he decided to leave.

cubs is 8-10 1/2
Scouts is 10 1/2 until 14 then there is explorers after that. So 14 would be the normal age to leave scouts.

 

[Oakie]

cubs is 8-10 1/2
Scouts is 10 1/2 until 14 then there is explorers after that. So 14 would be the normal age to leave scouts.

No, it's 17 to leave scouts (unless they've changed it since I was in, ....which was back in the 1970s).

Weblos--10 to 11 years
Boy Scouts--11 to 17
Explorers---17+

 

[CocktailQueen]

No, it's 17 to leave scouts (unless they've changed it since I was in, ....which was back in the 1970s).

Weblos--10 to 11 years
Boy Scouts--11 to 17
Explorers---17+

Scouts
Scouts is 10.5 to 14 then Explorer scouts is 14 +
Not all scouts units have explorers, though.

My son got fed up with scouts at about 13. So I don’t think Andrew leaving Scouts is if any concern.

 

[Pat60]

I would say he would more likely have gone to his grandparents' home in the evening and say that he skipped school that day and if he could take refuge at their house during the Weekend before going back home on the Sunday ready for the school week returning on the Monday. I think him doing this on Friday is a bit important to me personally and to me I believe he just wanted the day to himself of independence and spend the weekends at his grandparents before returning home and getting some form of punishment. I'm around his age right now in quite a household where it is perfectly safe and healthy and stable but I feel restricted in a way and want a bit more independence to myself and have some fun for a day.

That could explain why he took his game console with him. I can't figure out why he needed cash. I wonder if his console was playing up, or needed replacing.

 

[FindingCases]

That could explain why he took his game console with him. I can't figure out why he needed cash. I wonder if his console was playing up, or needed replacing.

I just believe he took his PSP so he wouldn't get bored on the 2 hour train journey to there. Its completely understandable to take some form of entertainment whether it would be a book or game console. I wonder whether the night prior he put his PSP on charge overnight to get it 100% so he could get the most usage of it while out. Or whether it was a last minute call to take it and he didn't really care what he picked up as long as it entertained him.

 

[Angleterre]

Interesting, on a different tack after watching that video, I'd forgotten the bit about how Andrew had woken a bit later than usual that day and been a bit grumpy. I know how teenagers can sleep, but it makes me think that if he was planning this big day out he'd have been less likely to do that. Just speculation really but it makes me wonder if he didn't want to go to school that day for some reason, and thus if it was more an impulse decision after all.

Really good point and a great catch @Grouse

 

[Angleterre]

Alternatively, he might have been up late in to the night plotting the next day, or secretly communicating with someone, and thus tired....

Amateur opinion and speculation

Yep, true and was peeved with himself for oversleeping as a result

 

[JuicyLucy]

Is anyone able to point me to specific info about the possible Pizza Hut sighting? I know it's a branch on Oxford Street that has since closed but I'd like to know exactly where it was. I feel like I remember it was up at the Tottenham Court Road end but I can't find a definitive source. I'm also keen to know where on Oxford Street the 2 reported sightings on Monday 17 September were, and whereabouts the Covent Garden sighting(s) were if a street name is known. I'm following a hunch and will share it if the details support what I'm thinking.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

 

[Deathsgrandaughter]

Is anyone able to point me to specific info about the possible Pizza Hut sighting? I know it's a branch on Oxford Street that has since closed but I'd like to know exactly where it was. I feel like I remember it was up at the Tottenham Court Road end but I can't find a definitive source. I'm also keen to know where on Oxford Street the 2 reported sightings on Monday 17 September were, and whereabouts the Covent Garden sighting(s) were if a street name is known. I'm following a hunch and will share it if the details support what I'm thinking.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

I have searched before for this info with not much success. It seems as if all the initial sightings have been discarded subsequently, and thus not mentioned again. Many of the original newspaper reports are hard to find, as they have been removed, and only exist, if at all, in the Wayback Machine.
This is one of the few reports I could find, and it is vague, so doubt it is any help, sorry. It dates from 19th Sept 2007, and states that
Andrew was spotted in Pizza Hut on Oxford Street on Monday, sleeping in a park in Southwark the following day and getting off a local train in the Waterloo area this morning
ETA
I found this webpage showing a map of Pizza Hut on Oxford Street. Assuming it relates to the now closed branch, it does show the restaurant at the Tottenham Court Road

 

[JuicyLucy]

I have searched before for this info with not much success. It seems as if all the initial sightings have been discarded subsequently, and thus not mentioned again. Many of the original newspaper reports are hard to find, as they have been removed, and only exist, if at all, in the Wayback Machine.
This is one of the few reports I could find, and it is vague, so doubt it is any help, sorry. It dates from 19th Sept 2007, and states that
Andrew was spotted in Pizza Hut on Oxford Street on Monday, sleeping in a park in Southwark the following day and getting off a local train in the Waterloo area this morning
ETA
I found this webpage showing a map of Pizza Hut on Oxford Street. Assuming it relates to the now closed branch, it does show the restaurant at the Tottenham Court Road

Thank you so much, that's really helpful. I'd seen the Pizza Hut location before but couldn't find it again, so what you've found confirms it.

I've read that the Gosden family think the Oxford Street and Covent Garden sightings are probably the only plausible ones with hindsight, but I'm not sure on what basis. The early report you found is so sad, because they all thought the sightings meant he would be found soon.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

@JuicyLucy
I would be interested in hearing your theory. (If it involves a specific person or people, please remember we can't bring that here, though.)

I'm working on list of articles about this case, just so they can all be together in one place, but it's going a bit slowly. I'll post eventually when I'm finished. It's just going to be written articles, though, not links to podcasts, etc.

 

[pol100gk]

There was a pizza hut on Oxford St closer to Marble Arch. Walking from Marble Arch towards Oxford Circus, it was on the right side. Closer to Marble Arch than Oxford Circus. But Oxford St is long, there may have been another one closer to Tottenham Court Rd.