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

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Barriejames said:
Hi Just a quick line with an added incentive to say I have a 15,000 pounds reward for any information leading to Andrew's location, dead or alive
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Who is this poster.

Edit to say I see. Also could Andrew had possibly been on the spectrum?
 
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Farley said:
I just signed up to have a chat on this thread.

Please accept my apologies as this post will probably be long! I've honestly spent the past few week reading every article I could find about Andrew. I hadn't heard of Andrew until I saw the BBC Panorama a few weeks back and for some reason his story has really touched me.

I think it's because his parents seem so lovely and his father bless him seems completely broken by this. Yet they're still so giving and are helping so many other families with missing loved ones, what fantastic people. It's just awful that they're going through this.

It's such an odd story. Not taking his charger or any clothes (not even a coat) or all the money at his disposal suggests to me that Andrew thought he would be back that day.

Yet he turned down the return ticket. Which suggests either he wasn't intending to return or (what I think is more likely) someone had said they would bring him home. But who? And he must have realised that getting a lift home would mean he would be home late (train is usually much quicker than car for long journeys isn't it?) so he'd have a lot of explaining to do to his parents. As would the stranger who drove their son home from London. I doubt he was stupid enough to believe they'd just accept and be okay with that? So I think he either planned to be back home before they got back from work (So why not take the return ticket?) Or he knew the person he was meeting and so did his parents. And he trusted that his parents would be okay with him spending time with this person.

I believe the most likely scenario is Andrew was groomed by someone claiming to be something they weren't. But I think it was someone he knew and his family know/knew.

There is zero evidence that he arranged to meet someone online. Those who suggest he was smart enough to wipe all his internet activity, there's several reasons why I don't believe that. He was a bright kid but he wasn't Walter O'Brian. To do that he would have first needed a VPN to hide his activity from the ISP (which would have immediately told them someone was wanting to hide their activity) then some software to properly and fully erase the data he wanted gone, but not the whole drive (IE boot & nook, overwrite with 0 as if the disk was new), not very easy to do. Plus, a family computer, zero internet data? The family would confirm they didn't wipe it, again pretty instant realisation that Andrew had wiped his activity. I'd like to think if he had wiped the data they would have made that public knowledge. 14 year old boy who's disappeared had professionally wiped his internet activity? That's pretty relevant to the case but not a detail to keep private in order to tell real leads from hoaxes etc.

Andrew's family have stated he didn't spend much time on the computer. You don't become *that* good with computers by 'not spending much time' on them.

If he was using his PSP the police would have been able to get the info from Sony's servers as Andrew wouldn't have been able to delete those. Plus there were very few wifi hotspots then and no wifi on the train. So he couldn't have chatted to whomever it was on his journey which means he was 100% confident that whoever he was meeting would be there.

The school computers would have had blocks left right and centre, there's no way he would have been able to chat to a stranger on those. That leaves the library computers (which I believe were also checked?) or it means it was arranged in real life and not online and by someone who Andrew trusted enough to act so completely out of character for.

In short, I do not believe Andrew met someone online and arranged to meet them that way.

Then there's the 'he ran away to start a new life' theory. As lovely as it would be it's extremely fanciful and just not plausible. He was 14, he looked younger. He couldn't have found a job or anywhere to stay or survived without money. He wasn't street smart and a young boy who's lived a sheltered life living rough in London would very quickly find themselves in a desperate situation. A few days with no food or shelter (he didn't even take a coat) would very soon make him rethink. He had his bank card. So had money at his disposal (I think. Some sites say he withdrew £200 some say he emptied his bank account). I can't believe that he wouldn't at some point have used his bank card or realised his mistake and contacted his parents.

Unless he had help, which takes us back to the question of help from whom? Add that to the fact that Andrew's parents seem like lovely people. He had a great home life and I can see no reason why he'd find living rough in London preferable to being at home (again, unless he's been helped by someone). Plus we've no reason to think he would be so callous as to put his parents through the hell they currently deal with on a daily basis.

There's so many reasons Andrew could have gone to London (just in this thread there's everything from buying a game to a band signing mentioned) but we've no reason to believe that if he'd have asked them, Andrew's parents wouldn't have taken him to London for those things. Like they had taken him there previously to visit museums and go to concerts. And if that had been the case then it stands to reason he would have at least asked them before deciding to run off there himself. Which his parents would surely have mentioned right away given that it would have been a massive coincidence for him to ask about London, be told no then him run away to London.

As I said at the start of this post I've read every article I can find about Andrew since I saw the Panorama episode and I genuinely believe Andrew met someone in real life who lured him to London. I believe that whoever has done this to Andrew is someone the family know (or knew). Maybe he was being bullied and didn't want to tell his parents (as a lot of teens don't) and this person offered some support. Maybe he was struggling with his sexuality and this person offered support. Maybe it's a simple as a shared taste in music/favourite game etc and they gained his confidence that way.

I just feel that Andrew wouldn't have gone of his own accord and with there being no evidence he met someone online then the only logical explanation is him meeting someone in real life who he trusted to look after him and get him home safely. And for this person to be able to explain the London adventure (or just explain why he was out with them and not at home) to his parents without them going crazy (which any good parent would do if there young teenager was out with a strange adult). Which suggests to me that whoever it was, they weren't a stranger to the Gosden family.

I also think the police have been astoundingly bad in their handling of the case. Within 48 hours they knew where Andrew had gone, what train he got what time he left, what time he arrived in London and on what platform. And they didn't ask for the CCTV for three weeks? Astounding! All it would have taken was a call/text/fax/email asking the local businesses and stations etc to under no circumstances erase the CCTV from the day Andrew arrived in London. I imagine Andrew's family would have at least some answers now if the police hadn't been so inept. Also failing to put him on the Interpol system (his parents found out a year after they were told he would be placed on the system that he hadn't been and the had to lodge a formal complaint to make it happen) the police have wasted so much time here and left so many stones unturned that I can't help but believe this case would have had a totally different outcome were it not for their repeated failings.

Also, I found this super creepy video on YouTube which claims to have been made with the consent of Andrew's family and made using their version of events. I take that with a massive pinch of salt. But can anyone confirm or deny it? It makes a lot of claims, that Andrew was confirmed as seen in the Oxford road Pizza Hut. That he was confirmed seen in Covent Garden and that he planned the trip two weeks in advance. I don't believe it to be genuine because if it was surely it would have had more exposure. But it sickens me that some random has made it and claims it was made with the help and consent of Andrew's parents.

The music is creepy AF too but whoever made it obviously spent a lot of time in London retracing what they think to be Andrew's steps.

Link here


Apologies for the super long post. I've just read so much about Andrew this week I had a lot to say!

I truly hope that Andrew's parents get some answers sooner rather than later. They seem like lovely people and really don't deserve this at all.
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Just reading through the thread so wasn't going to comment yet, BUT WTH is with that video, you are right verrrry weird and I'm only 5 mins in! He might have spent a lot of time there but I don't live in London and even I know it's Drury Lane not Dury Lane, which he wrote twice so not a typo......
 
shadowdancer said:
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?
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YES finally, just been reading through the thread and was wondering when someone would suggest that!
 
thesensitivechild said:
Did your friend ever contact the father?
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I don't know. She was going to respond to one of his appeals at some point, I believe. I don't know for sure whether she actually did.

Kevin is very involved with the Missing Person's charity though, so I would assume he is aware of the sighting anyway.

Not that there is much that they can do all these years on though. Far too late to check the CCTV now. :(
 
shadowdancer said:
Yes, I still think that he did that in order to maximise the time he had before his parents started looking for him.
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Thing is the 1st report regarding the uniform was that it was in the washing machine, then 2nd one it was in the wash basket then the third one (I think the panorama vid.) said it was over his chair, so our theory would only work if it was the washing machine or wash basket (assuming it's placed downstairs!)
 
dotr said:
Re post to highlight Andrew's ear.
Blog
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Sorry but am I the only one who finds this idea alarming??
 
Jackalyn said:
It has always bugged me that I have never heard any of Andrew's classmates speak about the case.

There must have been people who were Andrews friends even if they were a few people.
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I read so many pages ago........that someone was claiming to be his friend on reddit and had talked about him wanting to live in London, but obviously that doesn't mean it's fact
 
As a lot of my observations have already been commented on so I won't repeat, but there are couple of things I'm curious about that I don't believe has been mentioned.

Even though it's been said the parents were fine with their kids religious ideations, I am curious about the choice of school as they are active christians and Andrews school was catholic, obviously this could be something to do with the catchment area and doesn't mean much, just curious.

The night before he spent some time one on one with each of his parents, but nowhere does it say this was normal for him and if it wasn't then maybe he was saying goodbye, or maybe just felt guilty that he was bunking off!

I have no interest in the bands he liked, it's just noise to me, so curious to know what sort of lyrics they scream into your eardrums?

As for someone identifying him because of his ear, then that would be easy to disguise with ear piercings especially as he was leaning to becoming full on goth. A thought just occurred! I read he wanted to dye hair black etc. then those pics. would be no good whatsoever, as most goths wear more make-up than women.

Based on the theory he did just runaway and he's still alive and no harm has come to him. Maybe he did want to contact his family, but from what a lot of reports say he is very introverted, then the publicity his dad has created then I would think that would probably be the last thing he wanted to come back to. I understand he could contact them without coming back, but what if he was at that time sexually confused? His parents did a great job of outing him to the media, which I'm sure it wasn't malicious but I do think a bit more thought could have gone in to that!

My eyes are too tired to proof read my ramblings so sorry if anything has been misspelt :D
 
Allabouttrial said:
As a lot of my observations have already been commented on so I won't repeat, but there are couple of things I'm curious about that I don't believe has been mentioned.

Even though it's been said the parents were fine with their kids religious ideations, I am curious about the choice of school as they are active christians and Andrews school was catholic, obviously this could be something to do with the catchment area and doesn't mean much, just curious.

The night before he spent some time one on one with each of his parents, but nowhere does it say this was normal for him and if it wasn't then maybe he was saying goodbye, or maybe just felt guilty that he was bunking off!

I have no interest in the bands he liked, it's just noise to me, so curious to know what sort of lyrics they scream into your eardrums?

As for someone identifying him because of his ear, then that would be easy to disguise with ear piercings especially as he was leaning to becoming full on goth. A thought just occurred! I read he wanted to dye hair black etc. then those pics. would be no good whatsoever, as most goths wear more make-up than women.

Based on the theory he did just runaway and he's still alive and no harm has come to him. Maybe he did want to contact his family, but from what a lot of reports say he is very introverted, then the publicity his dad has created then I would think that would probably be the last thing he wanted to come back to. I understand he could contact them without coming back, but what if he was at that time sexually confused? His parents did a great job of outing him to the media, which I'm sure it wasn't malicious but I do think a bit more thought could have gone in to that!

My eyes are too tired to proof read my ramblings so sorry if anything has been misspelt :D
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I think they just wanted to get it out there that if it was his sexuality that made him leave that they don't care about that and love him no matter what.

He did like slipknot but his fave band was/is Muse which are far from screaming. Andrew was a "baby goth" if at all. He was more into nu metal/metal from the bands he liked, none of those are goth bands.


As for his ear, I think it would be hard to pierce and would draw more attention rather than hide it.
 
hayaletcatcher said:
I think they just wanted to get it out there that if it was his sexuality that made him leave that they don't care about that and love him no matter what.

He did like slipknot but his fave band was/is Muse which are far from screaming. Andrew was a "baby goth" if at all. He was more into nu metal/metal from the bands he liked, none of those are goth bands.


As for his ear, I think it would be hard to pierce and would draw more attention rather than hide it.
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Wasn't just Muse though was it? I've just listened to some of HIM which has previously been mentioned and Marilyn and they are quite dark.

Also maybe he was a "baby goth" when he was 14 and at school, which as we all know have a strict dress codes, no make-up, jewellery etc....nothing to say he didn't go full goth after he left.
 
Grunger the term is in the UK. I was into all the same bands as andrew. Manson and HIM are still on the very light side of goth.

Anyway, the family have first draft pictures back from missing people so shouldnt be too long until they are public. Sounds like Kevin is really impressed!
 
Must have missed the detail about Andrew being deaf in one ear, did he wear a hearing aid, is it the ear with the unusual ridge?
Anyone know what height Andrew is presumed to be as an adult?
rbbm.
- INTERPOL
GOSDEN, ANDREW
Present family name: GOSDEN
Forename: ANDREW
Sex: Male
Date of birth: 10/07/1993 (24 years old)
Place of birth: DONCASTER , United kingdom
Nationality: United kingdom
Distinguishing marks and characteristics: Deaf in one ear and wears glasses - particular feature in right ear (see photo)
Date of disappearance: 14/09/2007 When 14 years old
Place of disappearance: Doncaster, United kingdom
Photos
 
What a fantastic gesture by the band Muse, and i must say that the new age progression image brings a lump to the throat.

I honestly believe the answer lies somewhere with his family who live down in London. I think there is a bunch of information we don't yet know along those lines.
 
hayaletcatcher said:
Grunger the term is in the UK. I was into all the same bands as andrew. Manson and HIM are still on the very light side of goth.

Anyway, the family have first draft pictures back from missing people so shouldnt be too long until they are public. Sounds like Kevin is really impressed!
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Do you mean Grunge?
 
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