kid near lampost?imgur.com
Do you think it could be Andrew in the background of this picture?
In my opinion, the person shares the following characteristics with Andrew:
Light brown hair with reddish/blond hints. Similar/same length.
Long forearms.
Straight body (much like a teenage boy)
Outline of his messenger bag on the left?
I don't think it's particularly likely tbh but you never know. Even if he did something else may have intervened.
This IMO holds some credibility. Italian food was something he particularly liked and apparently it is seen as a good lead by his family by how 'Andrew' interacted with the waitress. Also another young man, on his own, looking just like Andrew eating there on that day (on a school day) does seem too much of a coincidence. It is such a pain about the CCTV.
Andrew wouldn't have lasted long amongst the homeless community. One night possibly, but there were all sorts of out-reach programmes for the homeless, police and even the public who if they saw someone of Andrew's age sleeping rough would've pounced on him in no time.
Kidnap yes, but lure or threaten maybe not so much. Look at the case of Martin Allen in 1979 (I'm not saying the cases are linked) where the abductor used the pretence he was a policeman and was therefore able to get Martin out of the underground. A shy 14 year old, who already knew he was in the wrong for bunking off school, wouldn't have argued or caused a fuss I doubt if he thought he was being apprehended by the police. Andrew could've been led anywhere - to a property or a vehicle.
It's the most shocking and frustrating part. Although what actually happened may not have been caught on camera, certainly more of an idea about his locations on the day would've been. As well as possibly anyone else - IMO if Andrew was lured off the street then the perpetrator could've been following him for some time, to check that he was on his own.
2007-2009 there would've been a fair bit of construction work, empty buildings etc. (as there is today) but I think that if he was abducted it would've been later in the day when he could've travelled to another part of London, or the abductor would've got him away from the touristy areas of London to avoid too many people.
I think the Pizza Hut sighting is credible. I’ve read elsewhere (maybe on this thread) that he ordered Hawaiian which was Andrew’s favourite.
I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, I've heard suggestions that the witness described mannerisms that are unique to Andrew. But, I've not seen any footage or interview that confirms this. Ham & Pineapple is a popular and common topping but then again it must be rare for a restaurant to have a child (or someone who appears to be a child visiting alone).
As schools were back then it's the one thing that does stand out to me that it could be true. A lone child, looking just like Andrew at a time when children wouldn't be on holiday is just way too much of a coincidence IMO
I'm not sure there even was CCTV
From what I can tell it becomes a bit unclear, but her line of enquiry wasn't followed up for a while, so if there was CCTV it was lost like the train and tube footage. Just bad investigations by the police.
Possibly, but by that time he may have purchased a drink or a snack, so it could have been paid with smaller notes and change.
Although there's a good chance that Martin's abductor posed as an authority figure in order to accost him, this isn't an established fact.
Yes, and this was shortly after the disappearance of Madeline McCann, at a time when child safety would have been paramount in the minds of Britons.
A chain restaurant in central London would have been likely to have had CCTV, in my opinion.
It is terrible the way that the police handled this case. So many possible opportunities to follow the trail were missed, it seems. I do wonder if a wider appeal across social media, now that social media is far from its infantile stages that it was at in 2007, would provide more pictures of the central London areas, especially King's Cross, Covent Garden and Sidcup.
He did have family in London and he often visited them with his family. I think his grandmother lived in London as well as his uncle. I wouldn't think anyone from his greater family would lie for something so serious!
I very much doubt he would've been lured at Kings Cross. 15+ years beforehand it was a dodgy place, but by 2007 it was nothing like the Kings Cross of old. Yes, there was still a bit of seediness, but this wasn't so much round the actual station. With the Eurostar going from next door, in a post-9/11 world Kings Cross is, and was, heavily policed and usually by armed officers. If you loiter too long you're quickly noticed. Put on top of that the abundance of CCTV, and that it was the middle of the day and you see that Kings Cross wasn't the hunting ground of predators anymore.
Ronnie Scott's is an upmarket Jazz club - a young lad of 14 in a t-shirt wasn't getting in. It also doesn't open until the evenings.
Soho Square gardens are quite open, smallish and used by tourists and also by office workers from the buildings that surround it (back then most big music and film companies). Although you get the odd scoundrel with a joint on the go or a couple of vagrants with cans of lager, you don't get too much in the way of dodginess there.
