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

[BethAnn777]

His school friends haven’t been silent per se.

Runaway child: 'How can a kid disappear from the face of the earth?’ | Daily Mail Online

'He took the train to London and was never seen again'

Friends of DS,please can you help my friend?

In the third link you posted someone stated that Andrew was hard of hearing. I have not seen that info. before. Also stated that Andrew aka Andy was called “roo” by his family. I remember seeing something here several pages back about someone posting online about having run away at 14 and needing money. Poster’s handle was Andy Roo.

 

[nacentaeons]

In the third link you posted someone stated that Andrew was hard of hearing. I have not seen that info. before. Also stated that Andrew aka Andy was called “roo” by his family. I remember seeing something here several pages back about someone posting online about having run away at 14 and needing money. Poster’s handle was Andy Roo.

Check out the Wikipedia article: Disappearance of Andrew Gosden - Wikipedia It may have other details you have missed.

 

[Nadal]

I'm the same age as Andrew, i went to school in Scotland though so i'm not sure how things worked in England. Anyway, our school would only take registration in the morning in registration class then again during 5th (of 6) period. As a result people in my school including myself on occasion would skip 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 6th period because as long as you were there for morning registration and 5th period and weren't seen in school by any of the teachers of those other classes (which wasn't hard in my school since it was so large) you'd be marked as attended. My school got wise to it by the time i went into 2nd year and made every class take registration but i'm curious if this could have been similar in Andrew's school? It's a longshot because i imagine all of his teachers have been questioned and probably been in contact with his father knowing how much he puts into this, and if they heard he had 100% attendance they would mention him not being in their class on occasion. Just thought it was worth mentioning as an outside possibility. It could explain him having the time to encounter someone who groomed him or convinced him to run away or even to plan this out while keeping perfect attendance and not socializing outside of school much.

I'd also like to point out his parents could've been amazing, he wasn't bullied and he wasn't homosexual or struggling with an identity issue in any way and still want to run away or harm himself. Children get random and unprovoked depression too, i had it myself and considered suicide around his age despite there being no real issue that was causing it, i was just deeply depressed.

 

[nacentaeons]

The possibility that the day he went to London wasn’t the first time that Andrew had skipped school is interesting.

 

[Fantastic]

I read in the week before his disappearance, Andrew walked home from school, instead of taking the bus. He did this twice, it's a walk of 1 hour and 20 minutes, according to the Wikipedia article on his disappearance. I wondered if he was meeting someone.

 

[Officer Dibble]

I've just caught up with this thread. I did read about this case over the years but before I realised Web Sleuths was a 'thing'. One thing that struck me was a few things I could relate to. At 14 to everyone who knew me I was in a happy home. My family would have said I was happy. However I was unhappy at home and also different to my family in that I lived for alternative music and particular bands. It was the only thing that kept any impetus. I had the impression the family wanted a standard boring work life for me without much ambition after school and though I didn't vocalise it, because I was quiet at home, I kept it internalised as teenagers can do. I kept searching for ways to leave the family. Earning part-time work money I would spend it on music, music T shirts and going to gigs. My family had no idea that after I disappeared to my room I would sneak out of the window and go from the countryside into a city and go to gigs. I was never ever caught or found out. I was always there in the morning. I used the fact that they never bothered to say goodnight assuming I was asleep. They believed my old pattern of living. I did leave the classic rolled up hump in the bed to look like a person in the dark, just in case. Now if at this point I had gone missing, they would have not believed I was the type of teenager to do what I just explained I did and I did it regularly. I also went into clubs. I gave the outward appearance of being 'good'. I was still good, I just wanted a different life. A few years later I eventually left home after telling an estranged family member (who I knew would relate to my problem) that I c ouldn't stand it any more, plus there had been a family argument. It was stifling to live in a boring home when there was music and bands out there that brought me alive. The estranged family member offered to meet me and put me up - which they did. I never went home. Once the opportunity to get out was presented to me, I took it. I wasn't a bad teenager at all, didn't do anything bad at all really, but I wanted out.

If I relate a bit to Andrew (minus the gaming as it was pre home gaming period for me) I would agree with the other poster who suggests he met someone (probably at the summer camp mentioned in here) who gave him their number (also of note when I was fourteen I was staying at my grandmother's house, I met a lad one afternoon in the area who gave me his name and number. I never did anything with it, but it also seemed to me like a contact to potentially meet someone different to my boring life.). I think he went out to meet that person that day (carefully planning the clothes in the washing machine to buy him some time) but once he met them , was convinced not to return home because 'look what I have here to offer you' and it was far more exciting than home. I think he was the Andyroo online who said he left home at 14 and had been living with a partner (male or female) for ten years. If I had been offered that at 14 or 15 I would have seriously considered it. I think he laid low for a very long time and changed his appearance. I too changed my appearance significantly once I left home but only because I wasn't bound by rules of the family and could be as outrageous as I want. I wonder if he began to wear black make up and really changed his looks to suit how he really wanted to look. That would make him unidentifiable and look older too?

I think Andrew is still alive. If he is still alive I hope he considers telling someone to tell his family he is okay as I think it so cruel on the family the not knowing. But it must be so hard to do this. I think you can do it anonymously via Missing Persons charity, can't you?

 

[Bit of hope]

Hurting....this kid looks so uncanny like mine when he was young. Hyper intelligent, glasses, the somewhat to long hair, just the way you would have it, those days....rebellious against the whole world (like we were all when we were young), looking down on it....not wanting to be a part of it....hating the school system, for the stupid teachers without passion, only there for paying the mortgage, the giggling ignorant classmates, you can't relate to etc. Asking "what is achievement?, what is a successful live?" Your "stupid" parents, wanting you to fit in a none working, almost dead, society..."working slaves"....but gave you all the opportunities to make a live, love, education, sports, music, arts, whatever there is what can make you grow, as a person. No pressure...But as a younger, (intelligence can be a very big burden) person, not taking serious, because you are "a child", you know better, despise it, and not in a childish way...a wise person who can look through an understand live better then many of us, running the rat race, wanting to find the miracles and threats of live yourself...life it through. I think this kind of thoughts were on Andrew's mind. But we all know a child of that age is very vulnerable for all kind of influences...good and bad....I really hope Andrew is still around...but being a good kid...he would have thought it through by now and realizing that he would hurt his parents very much if he would shut them out forever. I think he loved/loves his parents... Sorry, for this rambling on, but really coming from my heart, post.

 

[Bit of hope]

I've just caught up with this thread. I did read about this case over the years but before I realised Web Sleuths was a 'thing'. One thing that struck me was a few things I could relate to. At 14 to everyone who knew me I was in a happy home. My family would have said I was happy. However I was unhappy at home and also different to my family in that I lived for alternative music and particular bands. It was the only thing that kept any impetus. I had the impression the family wanted a standard boring work life for me without much ambition after school and though I didn't vocalise it, because I was quiet at home, I kept it internalised as teenagers can do. I kept searching for ways to leave the family. Earning part-time work money I would spend it on music, music T shirts and going to gigs. My family had no idea that after I disappeared to my room I would sneak out of the window and go from the countryside into a city and go to gigs. I was never ever caught or found out. I was always there in the morning. I used the fact that they never bothered to say goodnight assuming I was asleep. They believed my old pattern of living. I did leave the classic rolled up hump in the bed to look like a person in the dark, just in case. Now if at this point I had gone missing, they would have not believed I was the type of teenager to do what I just explained I did and I did it regularly. I also went into clubs. I gave the outward appearance of being 'good'. I was still good, I just wanted a different life. A few years later I eventually left home after telling an estranged family member (who I knew would relate to my problem) that I c ouldn't stand it any more, plus there had been a family argument. It was stifling to live in a boring home when there was music and bands out there that brought me alive. The estranged family member offered to meet me and put me up - which they did. I never went home. Once the opportunity to get out was presented to me, I took it. I wasn't a bad teenager at all, didn't do anything bad at all really, but I wanted out.

If I relate a bit to Andrew (minus the gaming as it was pre home gaming period for me) I would agree with the other poster who suggests he met someone (probably at the summer camp mentioned in here) who gave him their number (also of note when I was fourteen I was staying at my grandmother's house, I met a lad one afternoon in the area who gave me his name and number. I never did anything with it, but it also seemed to me like a contact to potentially meet someone different to my boring life.). I think he went out to meet that person that day (carefully planning the clothes in the washing machine to buy him some time) but once he met them , was convinced not to return home because 'look what I have here to offer you' and it was far more exciting than home. I think he was the Andyroo online who said he left home at 14 and had been living with a partner (male or female) for ten years. If I had been offered that at 14 or 15 I would have seriously considered it. I think he laid low for a very long time and changed his appearance. I too changed my appearance significantly once I left home but only because I wasn't bound by rules of the family and could be as outrageous as I want. I wonder if he began to wear black make up and really changed his looks to suit how he really wanted to look. That would make him unidentifiable and look older too?

I think Andrew is still alive. If he is still alive I hope he considers telling someone to tell his family he is okay as I think it so cruel on the family the not knowing. But it must be so hard to do this. I think you can do it anonymously via Missing Persons charity, can't you?

A fantastic post! Thank you! Actually I told the same story from a mother's point of view....I'm not the one with many words, I lost myself....English is not my native language....

 

[Officer Dibble]

Hurting....this kid looks so uncanny like mine when he was young. Hyper intelligent, glasses, the somewhat to long hair, just the way you would have it, those days....rebellious against the whole world (like we were all when we were young), looking down on it....not wanting to be a part of it....hating the school system, for the stupid teachers without passion, only there for paying the mortgage, the giggling ignorant classmates, you can't relate to etc. Asking "what is achievement?, what is a successful live?" Your "stupid" parents, wanting you to fit in a none working, almost dead, society..."working slaves"....but gave you all the opportunities to make a live, love, education, sports, music, arts, whatever there is what can make you grow, as a person. No pressure...But as a younger, (intelligence can be a very big burden) person, not taking serious, because you are "a child", you know better, despise it, and not in a childish way...a wise person who can look through an understand live better then many of us, running the rat race, wanting to find the miracles and threats of live yourself...life it through. I think this kind of thoughts were on Andrew's mind. But we all know a child of that age is very vulnerable for all kind of influences...good and bad....I really hope Andrew is still around...but being a good kid...he would have thought it through by now and realizing that he would hurt his parents very much if he would shut them out forever. I think he loved/loves his parents... Sorry, for this rambling on, but really coming from my heart, post.

Yes, I totally 'get' this. I just think its gone on too long in Andrew's mind (if he is still alive) to come forward now. How do you begin to explain yourself in the 'but why did you do it?' situation, I expect he wouldn't feel able to explain. But I was his parent, I would just want to know he is safe, he is found and hopefully begin a relationship again (though just the knowing he is safe would really help) and I wouldn't push the 'but why did you do it' if I got the vibe he didn't want to say. If you are alive Andrew and you are reading this, you can contact charities like Missing People and get a message back home that you are safe. It would really help them to move on and begin to heal.

 

[jaycool]

I occasionally come to check in here to see if any updates on this case. Some great comments here.

I am pretty sure the guy "andyroo" who was mentioned in earlier posts is indeed the same Andrew in this case. The probability is so high in my view.
We just so happen to have someone with a similar name who uses a nickname Andrew also used, he announces he left home at 14.. not a coincidence to me

I do think the answer also likely lies in Andrew walking home from school or the summer school program. Either he was being bullied so he avoided the bus.. Its possible that someting really pushed him over the edge, perhaps on the walk home he spent a lot of time thinking about his life then decided to "disapear"..

This to me would explain his supposed moodiness the day he went missing and his "quietness" the evening before, he was tired of the same old same old.
Its either that or he was meeting someone on the way home which required him to go out of his way to meet this person at a designated spot.

Its not even necessary that he walked ALL the way home, Andrew could have gone to this persons home, hung out after school and then this person drove him home after they hung out for an hour making it look like Andrew walked home but in fact spent some time with someone he considered special enough to hang out with.

I cant see someone willingly walking home 1+ hour everyday.. thats very tiring, so perhaps Andrew said "screw that, rather than do that everyday i am going to begin a new life". I could understand this being common with someone who has an avoidant type of personality, they avoid their problems and dont talk about them either.

They avoid confronting a bully, they avoid telling someone, they avoid the bus, they get tired of everything then run away, they avoid their old life, they they avoid explaining why they disapeared (see the pattern?).. if he met someone during those "walks" then the person probably helped him get his new life sorted elsewhere.

After all its easy to do that when you have an avoidant personality, you just keep running away from your problems and it creates a chain reaction of events where you find it easier to never discuss these things but instead "shut them out" or take a "detour" around the problem so you dont have to think/talk about it.

I think Andrew had to have some money coming in from somewhere though, i suspect he has not had a normal day job all these years, selling drugs is one way, making money online is another. I do also think hes been gone so long that he feels guilty but he doesnt want the responsiblity of explaining himself.

 

[Officer Dibble]

I occasionally come to check in here to see if any updates on this case. Some great comments here.

I am pretty sure the guy "andyroo" who was mentioned in earlier posts is indeed the same Andrew in this case. The probability is so high in my view.
We just so happen to have someone with a similar name who uses a nickname Andrew also used, he announces he left home at 14.. not a coincidence to me

Agree on your Avoidant suggestion.

Out of interest I googled Andyroo and Twitter and loads of them came up. Must be a more popular monicker that goes with Andy than I previously thought.

 

[jaycool]

Agree on your Avoidant suggestion.

Out of interest I googled Andyroo and Twitter and loads of them came up. Must be a more popular monicker that goes with Andy than I previously thought.

Absolutely. Its comes up a lot. The fact this mystery person has left home at 14 (apparently) is the more important detail, its just when you combine this detail with the "andyroo" detail it narrows it down so much that it is very likely to be Andrew Gosden. I am confident it is him and i usually would not say that.

I have only ever met one Andrew (stranger) in all my life who referred to himself as "Roo" (but not andyroo necessarily), the other several i know/knew do not use this nickname at all, i think it pops up a lot simply because there are many Andrews out there but not because it is actually used a lot per individual.

Just to play a game here.. if we say there are 400,000 Andrews in the UK i suspect at least 50,000 use (or have used) the nickname. How many Andrews from that 50,000 run away from home at 14? 1 every thousand if we are pushing it? I suspect not many would run away at 14 and if they do they usually return home eventually.

This "andyroo" person was apparently located and heard from in an area just outside AG's hometown if i remember rightly, this could also be another clue that it is him because he knows the area and people there, it could be the person who helped him survive all these years may also live in this area.

I would need to dig back earlier in this thread to remember the location mentioned. One can only hope the info given to LE wasn't a lie to mislead.

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
The Strange Disappearance of Andrew Gosden
"Some more theories: he's in the Thames. In May of 2011, a company specialising in at-sea-rescue, offered to perform a sonar search of the capital's river. It resulted in the discovery of a body, though it wasn't Andrew's. The aforementioned Mick Neville believes the possibilities of a connection between Andrew and Alex Sloley, a 16-year-old who went missing from London ten months after him, should be investigated.


Or maybe he’s in Shrewsbury.

In November of 2008, a man visited Leominster Police Station out of hours, professing, via intercom, to have information about Andrew. By the time someone had come to take his information, the man had disappeared. After the BBC featured the Andrew Gosden case on The One Show, the BBC received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be the man from Leominster Police Station. It claimed that Andrew had been sighted in Shrewsbury. There is no confirmation the person who wrote the letter and the man at the police station are one and the same.

There have also been "sightings" in Plymouth, South Wales, Southend and Birkenhead, though recently all efforts have looked to Lincoln for answers.

"Last year, around the time of the tenth anniversary of Andrew’s disappearance, we received a tip from someone who said he’d been talking to someone named 'Andyroo' online," says Kevin. "The person our contact was talking to said, 'My partner has just walked out and I need help.' Our contact offered to help, asked 'Andyroo' what he needed. 'Andyroo' told him he needed £200 to make rent. Our contact noticed 'Andyroo' was listed as living in Lincoln, some distance from him, and so offered to transfer some money to help him out. 'Andyroo' said he didn't have a bank account because he'd left home when he was 14. He said he'd 'just felt like it'. What's really interesting about this, is that our nickname for Andrew as a kid was 'Roo'…"

 

[Kitkat28]

rbbm.
The Strange Disappearance of Andrew Gosden
"Some more theories: he's in the Thames. In May of 2011, a company specialising in at-sea-rescue, offered to perform a sonar search of the capital's river. It resulted in the discovery of a body, though it wasn't Andrew's. The aforementioned Mick Neville believes the possibilities of a connection between Andrew and Alex Sloley, a 16-year-old who went missing from London ten months after him, should be investigated.

Snipped

I saw this on Reddit last week I think. I’d never heard of this case before.

 

[Bit of hope]

rbbm.
The Strange Disappearance of Andrew Gosden
"Some more theories: he's in the Thames. In May of 2011, a company specialising in at-sea-rescue, offered to perform a sonar search of the capital's river. It resulted in the discovery of a body, though it wasn't Andrew's. The aforementioned Mick Neville believes the possibilities of a connection between Andrew and Alex Sloley, a 16-year-old who went missing from London ten months after him, should be investigated.


Or maybe he’s in Shrewsbury.

In November of 2008, a man visited Leominster Police Station out of hours, professing, via intercom, to have information about Andrew. By the time someone had come to take his information, the man had disappeared. After the BBC featured the Andrew Gosden case on The One Show, the BBC received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be the man from Leominster Police Station. It claimed that Andrew had been sighted in Shrewsbury. There is no confirmation the person who wrote the letter and the man at the police station are one and the same.

There have also been "sightings" in Plymouth, South Wales, Southend and Birkenhead, though recently all efforts have looked to Lincoln for answers.

"Last year, around the time of the tenth anniversary of Andrew’s disappearance, we received a tip from someone who said he’d been talking to someone named 'Andyroo' online," says Kevin. "The person our contact was talking to said, 'My partner has just walked out and I need help.' Our contact offered to help, asked 'Andyroo' what he needed. 'Andyroo' told him he needed £200 to make rent. Our contact noticed 'Andyroo' was listed as living in Lincoln, some distance from him, and so offered to transfer some money to help him out. 'Andyroo' said he didn't have a bank account because he'd left home when he was 14. He said he'd 'just felt like it'. What's really interesting about this, is that our nickname for Andrew as a kid was 'Roo'…"

I'm not getting my hopes up for Andrew. It could be the killer, it could be a fraud. How many times people came forward saying they be a long lost son or daughter and they turn out not to be related by genes. Sure wish Andrew is still alive, some day finding his way back to his parents/family. This case keeps on making me sad (and I don't have that often).

 

[dotr]

This is the thread for the teen referenced in my above post..
UK - UK - Alexander Sloley, 16, Enfield, London, 2 Aug 2008

 

[Scyeld07]

This case has haunted me ever since it happened. Andrews face could of been my son, the similarity at that age is uncanny.
So here are a few points I’d like to contribute..
Uniform in machine... not important as he could of just been a tidy lad .
No money from his room taken.. he had simply forgotten it when he was changing to leave as he was in a rush to catch the train.
No psp charger.. where he was going he could use a usb cable to charge it but he was only taking it for something to do on the train anyway.
PSP on train.. Perfect to play & stops any social interaction with those kinds of strangers on public transport who strike up random chat your whole journey when you don’t want it, either because of shyness, being socially inept at 14 or simply because like me for example I’m not interested in boring chatter on a journey from a stranger.
London.. he had been there before with family/ had relations there.. whenever they stayed with family there did he meet young ppl like himself (goth tendencies) hang out with them as they lived near his relatives? It was just after summer hols , had they stayed with family in London that summer?! Had he hung around with teens whilst there??
Apologies I’m new on here my mind is racing...
This disappearance breaks my heart .

 

[Bit of hope]

This case has haunted me ever since it happened. Andrews face could of been my son, the similarity at that age is uncanny.
So here are a few points I’d like to contribute..
Uniform in machine... not important as he could of just been a tidy lad .
No money from his room taken.. he had simply forgotten it when he was changing to leave as he was in a rush to catch the train.
No psp charger.. where he was going he could use a usb cable to charge it but he was only taking it for something to do on the train anyway.
PSP on train.. Perfect to play & stops any social interaction with those kinds of strangers on public transport who strike up random chat your whole journey when you don’t want it, either because of shyness, being socially inept at 14 or simply because like me for example I’m not interested in boring chatter on a journey from a stranger.
London.. he had been there before with family/ had relations there.. whenever they stayed with family there did he meet young ppl like himself (goth tendencies) hang out with them as they lived near his relatives? It was just after summer hols , had they stayed with family in London that summer?! Had he hung around with teens whilst there??
Apologies I’m new on here my mind is racing...
This disappearance breaks my heart .

Thank you for your post and welcome. Suddenly it hit me hard....we are all in pain for this youngster, for all different reasons. I can't even begin to imagine, what it must be like for his parents. An act of compassion towards them comes to mind.

 

[SJ16321]

There's a new age progression photo of Andrew been released today

New photo of missing Andrew Gosden released - SYP

I'm fairly confident they're looking for a body in this case but I can understand why his family would never give up that little bit of hope. Hopefully they finally get closure either way in the near future, I can't imagine the hell of not knowing for this long, It's been over a decade now!

 

[HayLouise]

A new photograph of #missing Andrew Gosden has been released today as part of a refreshed appeal for information from Andrew's father Kevin. Specific features of Andrew's appearance & character can be found on Kevin's blog: Searching for Andrew: what to look for… … (1/2) @andrew_gosden