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

[alllads]

It's not Andrew - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-38187090

 

[ekardh]

Was always a long shot that it was Andrew. For one, I doubt he even made it to adulthood, and two I'm not sure his remains would be found in Donny. Not unless he was abducted by someone up there who agreed to meet in London.

 

[Farley]

Just listened to this interview with Andrew's father.

http://www.thingsunseen.co.uk/podcasts/missing/

I know it's a few years old but I've not heard it before. He shares his frustration with the police not acting on CCTV.

I also didn't know Andrew had that much family in London.

Poor man. He deserves answers.

 

[ekardh]

Just listened to this interview with Andrew's father.

http://www.thingsunseen.co.uk/podcasts/missing/

I know it's a few years old but I've not heard it before. He shares his frustration with the police not acting on CCTV.

I also didn't know Andrew had that much family in London.

Poor man. He deserves answers.

I knew he had some relatives down there, but it sounds like there were numerous contacts for Andrew.

The answer to Andrew's disappearance might lie closer to home.

 

[ekardh]

Also, Kevin Gosden's suicide attempt is a new one on me.

If he had been successful no doubt a lot of people would be pointing the finger at him.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I knew he had some relatives down there, but it sounds like there were numerous contacts for Andrew.

The answer to Andrew's disappearance might lie closer to home.

I agree, I think it's to do with someone the family knows, an older man, maybe someone they know locally. I think the intention was for Andrew to spent the day in London and get a lift home, though I'm not sure how he'd manage that within school hours.

Doncaster is a main "hub" station connecting north to south, google tells me there are 100 trains a day each way (wow!) and it takes around 2 hours.

 

[shadowdancer]

I agree, I think it's to do with someone the family knows, an older man, maybe someone they know locally. I think the intention was for Andrew to spent the day in London and get a lift home, though I'm not sure how he'd manage that within school hours.

Its literally just occurred to me, but might the uniform in the wash be a ruse by Andrew to make his parents think he had come home from school and gone out again, thus reducing the chances of them panicking about his whereabouts when he was late home?

 

[PickleWickle]

From reviewing the case and all the information to hand I believe Andrew went to meet someone who he was chatting too online or alternatively someone he already knew who groomed him.

I'd say this is why he got the one way ticket. Probably on the proviso he would get a an alternative method back. Ie a lift. Which ultimately would never have happened.

The money he took out, £200 seems sufficient to cover his train ticket and also to prevent him using his debit card to be traced afterwards. Working on the theory he was groomed, was he told to take cash out first? Was he told to wear the distinctive Slipknot T shirt so the perpetrator could recognise him?

The big key to this case is who was the man in the reflection at the King's Cross entrance? On the slow motion footage the reflection appears In sync with Andrew walking out of the station and the last frame shows Andrew turn towards the man.

The second big key to solving this is where did Andrew go from Kings Cross?...obvious question I know. St Pancras is yards away and so is the tube. From there you end up in the murky abyss of London Town and you can quite easily disappear.

I don't believe Andrew ran away. I don't feel he would of left his parents as he did. If this was the case he surely would of called or wrote to them.

Likewise if he went to London and got lost or stuck there. He would of surely called for help.

If he didn't and ended up on the streets of London I feel he would of ended up in grave danger and more than likely ended up at my conclusion anyway.

Sadly my conclusion is that Andrew was groomed and would of either been used sexually, possibly over a long period of time and subsequently murdered.

 

[ekardh]

The big key to this case is who was the man in the reflection at the King's Cross entrance? On the slow motion footage the reflection appears In sync with Andrew walking out of the station and the last frame shows Andrew turn towards the man.

I wouldn't call that a 'big key'. It's a busy railway station.

Whatever the case, I'm of the firm belief that Andrew didn't run away from home to start a new life, and wouldn't have got a single ticket unless it was on the proviso of someone giving him a ride home. It could've been a stranger that groomed him over the internet, or it might have been someone connected to the family/friends who lived in London. The man at the police station might have been a time waster or was in fact the perpetrator having a crisis of conscience before backing out.

 

[PickleWickle]

I feel it is a big point In tracing anyone at the exit of Kings Cross as ultimately this Is the last real siting of Andrew. Without knowing where he went from there the trail goes cold.

And whereas it's a busy station he's seemingly vanished from that point and there have only been unfounded sitings since. I still believe fully he met someone from the net.
The way he vanished means that the perpetrator got him at the station and away from public view fairly quickly.

 

[Farley]

I agree, I think it's to do with someone the family knows, an older man, maybe someone they know locally. I think the intention was for Andrew to spent the day in London and get a lift home, though I'm not sure how he'd manage that within school hours.

Doncaster is a main "hub" station connecting north to south, google tells me there are 100 trains a day each way (wow!) and it takes around 2 hours.

I've said a few times that my own personal opinion is that whoever has done this is someone known to the Gosden family. Whether they had awful intentions from the outset or wether Andrew went to London and something awful happened accident wise.

Obviously just my opinion but finding out Andrew had so much family in London has only made me feel it's even more likely.

 

[Farley]

I feel it is a big point In tracing anyone at the exit of Kings Cross as ultimately this Is the last real siting of Andrew. Without knowing where he went from there the trail goes cold.

And whereas it's a busy station he's seemingly vanished from that point and there have only been unfounded sitings since. I still believe fully he met someone from the net.
The way he vanished means that the perpetrator got him at the station and away from public view fairly quickly.

The only sticking point I find is Andrew had no access to chat with someone for the time it would take to become close enough to be prepared to act so out of character for and arrange to meet. That's not going to come about in a week it would have taken a while for whoever was grooming him to gain his confidence.

Andrew had no PC the family got his sister a laptop three months before he vanished which according to his dad he never bothered with. The police checked it and they checked the school pc's (these would have been locked down anyway there's no way he could have chatted to anyone on these). And as someone who knows computers well (I build and repair them) I find it hard to believe a kid, however smart could be adept enough to avoid forensic police detection in such a short space of time, especially when he gave the appearance of not being bothered with the laptop. So all this would have had to be learned when he was alone in the house and hidden from his parents and sister to keep up the impression that he wasn't interested.

Again, just my opinion but I believe his father. There's no evidence at all to support the theory he met someone online.

 

[ekardh]

Did Andrew run away from home? Doubtful. He wasn't packed for the occasion.

Let's presume Andrew was going to return at some point. He didn't buy a return ticket despite the negligible price difference, which means he was relying on another way home. That would mean that he wasn't planning a solo adventure. So Andrew must have agreed to meet someone in London that day, who was going to provide a ride back to Donny. There was apparently no evidence that Andrew had been speaking to anyone online, although we can't rule this out completely. Putting that aside, this leaves us with someone Andrew already had a means of contacting, such as a family member or friend. Andrew didn't have a mobile phone apparently. It would be interesting to see the phone records for the time leading up to Andrew's disappearance. If there had been unknown calls to family/friends, would this have set off a red flag for the Andrew's parents or not? Now it's also entirely possible that Andrew was intercepted by a potential predator before he met this person but the odds are slim, and it begs the question why that person never came forward.

 

[bestie]

The only sticking point I find is Andrew had no access to chat with someone for the time it would take to become close enough to be prepared to act so out of character for and arrange to meet. That's not going to come about in a week it would have taken a while for whoever was grooming him to gain his confidence.

Andrew had no PC the family got his sister a laptop three months before he vanished which according to his dad he never bothered with. The police checked it and they checked the school pc's (these would have been locked down anyway there's no way he could have chatted to anyone on these). And as someone who knows computers well (I build and repair them) I find it hard to believe a kid, however smart could be adept enough to avoid forensic police detection in such a short space of time, especially when he gave the appearance of not being bothered with the laptop. So all this would have had to be learned when he was alone in the house and hidden from his parents and sister to keep up the impression that he wasn't interested.

Again, just my opinion but I believe his father. There's no evidence at all to support the theory he met someone online.

Would it be possible that he was communicating via his games console or was that also ruled out ?

 

[shadowdancer]

Did Andrew run away from home? Doubtful. He wasn't packed for the occasion.

Let's presume Andrew was going to return at some point. He didn't buy a return ticket despite the negligible price difference, which means he was relying on another way home. That would mean that he wasn't planning a solo adventure. So Andrew must have agreed to meet someone in London that day, who was going to provide a ride back to Donny. There was apparently no evidence that Andrew had been speaking to anyone online, although we can't rule this out completely. Putting that aside, this leaves us with someone Andrew already had a means of contacting, such as a family member or friend. Andrew didn't have a mobile phone apparently. It would be interesting to see the phone records for the time leading up to Andrew's disappearance. If there had been unknown calls to family/friends, would this have set off a red flag for the Andrew's parents or not? Now it's also entirely possible that Andrew was intercepted by a potential predator before he met this person but the odds are slim, and it begs the question why that person never came forward.

Maybe the person had Andrew's home phone number and knew what times Andrew was at home alone to take the call.

 

[PickleWickle]

I've read back on previous posts that he had distant relatives in London. Surely these have been looked into by the police and ruled out?...

I still wonder why and how Andrew vanished from the King's Cross exit. If he did exit alone would he have gone to an arcade for shelter ?... A love of gaming but a notorious haunt for pedophile predators.

 

[Farley]

Would it be possible that he was communicating via his games console or was that also ruled out ?

That's a good question. He did have an X box but you'd imagine if it was online with an Xbox live sub this would have been checked. And as his dad has said there is no evidence he spoke to anyone beforehand online then I can only assume all possible means Andrew had to possibly chat to someone were checked including his Xbox if it indeed was connected to the Internet.

 

[Farley]

Maybe the person had Andrew's home phone number and knew what times Andrew was at home alone to take the call.

As mentioned previously in the thread apparently twice in the two weeks previous to his vanishing Andrew walked him from school which stands out as unusual as besides those two occasions he had gotten the bus.

He could have been meeting someone to organise a trip. He could also have just felt like walking/been avoiding a bully (I see this as less likely because surely you'd just wait for the next bus). It obviously could be absolutely nothing but given that he did something out of character just before vanishing I think it's worth mentioning. I hope the police looked into this.

 

[PickleWickle]

He could quite easily have been messaging someone from his PSP.

It seems here someone somewhere manipulated Andrew in travelling to London.

As anyone thought If Andrews possible perpetrator actually travelled on the same train as him FROM Doncaster. I guess it's a different perspective and not completely out of the question.

 

[bestie]

From the little I have read on the thread it does seem like he was meeting someone. Only other observation would be maybe the timing of his disappearance was relevant. Wouldn't it have been shortly after returning to school after the summer holidays. Did he have some problems at school ?