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

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Could have been anything really. I have always thought that the answer to Andrew going missing is in Doncaster. Thats where the chain of events started that took him to London. My thoughts are he was meeting somebody he knew or had been introduced to through freinds & family in London. I also feel that he did plan on coming back, maybe not the same day hence no coat, no psp charger & he left £100 at home which he couldve took with him
 
Could have been anything really. I have always thought that the answer to Andrew going missing is in Doncaster. Thats where the chain of events started that took him to London. My thoughts are he was meeting somebody he knew or had been introduced to through freinds & family in London. I also feel that he did plan on coming back, maybe not the same day henice no coat, no psp charger & he left £100 at home which he couldve took with him
 
AndyR70 said:
I am thinking that he may have come into contact with somebody going tonor from school. Im a bus driver by trade so my chain of thought is could he have been befreinded by somebody. Why did he walk home on that one occasion instead of catching the bus?
Did he meet somebody on his walk home?
Did they possibly give him something to take to London?
I suspect the answer to his leaving home is in Doncaster
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bbm

I'm an American. What does your phrase "going tonor" mean? I tried Google, didn't work.

TY, Laughing
 
AndyR70 said:
Could have been anything really. I have always thought that the answer to Andrew going missing is in Doncaster. Thats where the chain of events started that took him to London. My thoughts are he was meeting somebody he knew or had been introduced to through freinds & family in London. I also feel that he did plan on coming back, maybe not the same day henice no coat, no psp charger & he left £100 at home which he couldve took with him
Click to expand...

If he did plan on coming back, what are your thoughts on how he planned on explaining where he went and why he skipped school which he had never done before? Maybe he planned on getting home before his parents got home from work and that they wouldn’t find out? One thing that I just thought of, if I remember correctly, he put his uniform in the washer before he left. I wonder where in the wash/dry cycle his uniform normally was when his parents got home? Could him choosing to wash his uniform hold any significance?

What could he have been delivering to London? Drugs? I just can’t see it, but I am open to an opposing viewpoint.
 
BethAnn777 said:
What could he have been delivering to London? Drugs?
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Himself - albeit unwittingly.

I don't think there's too much to read into Andrew's story, and it's easy to go off on tangents about drugs or whatever else.

I've always thought the most likely explanation is either a) he simply wanted to disappear and start a new life; or b) he was abducted and later killed. The further you veer from either scenario, the more likely you're going to stray from the truth and end up going down various conspiratorial rabbit holes.
 
BethAnn777 said:
If he did plan on coming back, what are your thoughts on how he planned on explaining where he went and why he skipped school which he had never done before? Maybe he planned on getting home before his parents got home from work and that they wouldn’t find out? One thing that I just thought of, if I remember correctly, he put his uniform in the washer before he left. I wonder where in the wash/dry cycle his uniform normally was when his parents got home? Could him choosing to wash his uniform hold any significance?

What could he have been delivering to London? Drugs? I just can’t see it, but I am open to an opposing viewpoint.
Click to expand...

This is the reason why i think he met somebody in london he knew as that would be easier to explain to his parents when he got back. That may also explain why he took no coat or his psp charger as he probably planned on coming back the next day.
Andrew's father is quoted as saying he thinks it was easier for Andrew to seek forgivness for going instead of seeking permission which rings true to me.
I cant fathom out why he chose to walk home on the one occasion when he normally caught the bus which makes me think he met someone on his way home for some reason
 
Dan Cooper said:
Andrew would have had a PSP, not an actual PlayStation home console. PSPs are quite small, and easy to fit into any sized bag.
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(Laughing at myself)
True, but my comment was more about the bag. It wasn't that big, so I wondered what the poster who suggested he might be bringing something to London thought could be in that bag. (And why?) Curious about the theory.
 
NEWS: Andrew Gosden anniversary appeal

Fourteen years ago, Doncaster teenager Andrew Gosden went missing.

His family are still searching for answers about what happened to him, and where he is now.

Today, on the 14th anniversary of Andrew’s disappearance we are urging anyone who might know Andrew to talk to police.

Andrew was 14 when he disappeared in September 2007, he’d now be 28.

We know that he got on a train to London Kings Cross, but after leaving the station there are no confirmed sightings and no information about his movements that could be corroborated by police.

Today we’re resharing several age-progression photos of Andrew and images of his distinctive right ear, all of which could be vital in finding a piece in the puzzle of his disappearance.

Andrew is also deaf in his left ear and has poor eyesight, he needs to wear glasses or contact lenses.

Detective Inspector Andy Knowles, who has been overseeing the police investigation into Andrew’s disappearance since 2017, said: “My main aim is to encourage anyone who might know Andrew to contact police. By providing details about his appearance we are hoping to spark a conversation between friends or people that might know him as the 28 year old man he is today.

“Does someone you know have gaps in their life history? Do you know someone with this distinctive double ridge on his right ear? Is there someone in your life, your street, or your community that might be Andrew?”

Since his disappearance, Andrew’s dad Kevin has continued to raise awareness and search for answers about his son. He works closely with the national charity Missing People, collating useful information to help the wider public in their search for Andrew. This information is available via Kevin’s blog: Help Us To Find Andrew

DI Knowles added: “Time does not lessen the pain for Andrew’s family. I know from speaking to them that with every passing day, month, and year their desire to know what happened to him grows.

“If you have any answers to these questions, perhaps today is the time to speak to someone.”

Any information that is received by South Yorkshire Police continues to be reviewed, please call us or submit information online quoting incident number 161 of 13 September 2017.

You can also speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Log In or Sign Up to View
 
?unknown? said:
I agree that the return ticket thing is most likely a red herring for the same reasons you’ve stated. Even if he had travelled alone before I still think he wouldn’t be familiar with the different ticket options. It’s just not the way young teens and kids think. I’ve been taking my son to school on the bus for the last couple of months (this is U.K. too) and I watch kids Andrew’s age come on the bus and dump money in the bus then they come
Home on the same bus later in the day and dump another load of money in, they don’t care about how much it costs or cheaper options etc, they only care about getting where they need to go pronto. These things are just not on the mind of very young kids and teens. Budgeting in this way is what the parents do. I have never seen a 14 year old in my life who knew the benefits of return ticket or an “off peak ticket” or what anything like that was.
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Maybe, but he sounds like a very bright lad by all accounts, if the ticket seller did explain that he could get a return for just 50p more I doubt that would have been lost on him. I'm not an expert on UK rail ticketing in 2007 but I do know from experience in years prior to that that those kind of deals only tended to be for same day returns. If that was the case it could be very relevant in terms of indicating what his plans were.

The fact he didn't take a charging cable for his PSP is odd though if a multi-day trip was planned, unless he knew there would be one available where he was going, or was just planning on being away maybe one night.
 
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Grouse said:
Maybe, but he sounds like a very bright lad by all accounts, if the ticket seller did explain that he could get a return for just 50p more I doubt that would have been lost on him. I'm not an expert on UK rail ticketing in 2007 but I do know from experience in years prior to that that those kind of deals only tended to be for same day returns. If that was the case it could be very relevant in terms of indicating what his plans were.

The fact he didn't take a charging cable for his PSP is odd though if a multi-day trip was planned, unless he knew there would be one available where he was going, or was just planning on being away maybe one night.
Click to expand...
I agree about the psp charger. He either was only planning on being away for one night or he met someone he knew & there was a charger at his destination. Does anybody know how long a full charge on one of those lasts just out of interest??
 
BethAnn777 said:
One thing that I just thought of, if I remember correctly, he put his uniform in the washer before he left. I wonder where in the wash/dry cycle his uniform normally was when his parents got home? Could him choosing to wash his uniform hold any significance?
Click to expand...

In the podcast I listened to --> Episode 29 - Andrew Gosden I think his father said it was the normal thing and mentioned shirt and also trousers which, given it was a Friday, would seem to make sense, so they'd be ready for Monday. Kind of makes me think either he was intending to come home over the weekend, or that he wanted his family to think that.
 
AndyR70 said:
I agree about the psp charger. He either was only planning on being away for one night or he met someone he knew & there was a charger at his destination. Does anybody know how long a full charge on one of those lasts just out of interest??
Click to expand...

Guess it would depend how much it's used - think a witness said he played it on the train down.
 
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