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

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

In September 1995, 65 year old convicted paedophile James Stewart was working as a Big Issue seller in Leicester Square.

Stewart lured a 15 year old boy (who had run away from his home in Essex that morning) to his house in Kilburn Lane, where he plied the boy with beer and whiskey, and subjected him to a brutal sex attack.

This is the same MO Dennis Nilsen used with young boys in the 80s, and what I suspect happened to Andrew. I suspect the killer or killers would have been caught if CCTV hadn't been ignored by police and wiped.

We will never know the number of missing and dead from crimes like this. Most especially in any case when these young men and women (children, in fact) were known as 'runaways' or 'troubled' or in and out of care / foster homes and lost track of.

Also anyone coming to London from another city before the days of mobile phones and CCTV, unless they had a tight knit caring family and maintained plenty of phone calls and letters could just disappear. Many people used to love the anonymity of London - if you asked people what made them come they'd say to get away from small town mentality and to feel free and to be anonymous, finding their home towns and villages boring, repressive, suffocating. It bites both ways, anonymity.

 

[Officer Dibble]

Yes I went to the aforementioned Sega World at some point in the mid 90s. Begged my Mum most days and she eventually relented as early Birthday present one Easter. As someone who was obsessed with the Mega Drive growing up in that era it certainly would be tempting for a day out if any other big space was offering that type of gaming experience in 2007.

As I've mentioned a few times there was a gamer meetup in a London public space that very weekend, sure you've seen the YT link before TRR but happy to post again if you missed it?

I actually agree he could've gone down to London at other points in Summer 2007 to meet someone and his parents would be none the wiser if he was just returning to his home from 6pm onwards.

yes please tell me where to see this link

 

[Inspector Evans]

yes please tell me where to see this link

O.k posted it a few times on her down the years but of course not every regular contributor will check this thread regularly:

According to the title this took place on Saturday 15th September 2007. Not sure on location but there are shops in the background so somewhere central.

A few comments mention Andrew as there's a kid with glasses five and a minutes in who bares a similarity so while it wasn't him it was certainly young adults of the profile of Andrew in liking gaming and music with some of the t-shirts being worn.

 

[VelvetDiamante]

The YouTube gathering theory has been debunked,

1) It was the day after he disappeared and it wouldn't make sense for him to go down there a day early.
2) People who were there would've surely remembered speaking to and hanging out with him.
3) A lot of teenage boys had a similar look at that time. There was one man in the video that was accused of being Andrew, who came forward years later to say that he was 19 at the time, with dyed black hair and was 6ft tall. Andrew was 5 ft 3 and had mousey brown hair.
4) Most importantly, Andrew didn't appear to be very interested in the internet, or have the means to spend a lot of time on it, so it's unlikely he would've been part of an obscure YouTube community.

 

[Officer Dibble]

The YouTube gathering theory has been debunked,

1) It was the day after he disappeared and it wouldn't make sense for him to go down there a day early.
2) People who were there would've surely remembered speaking to and hanging out with him.
3) A lot of teenage boys had a similar look at that time. There was one man in the video that was accused of being Andrew, who came forward years later to say that he was 19 at the time, with dyed black hair and was 6ft tall. Andrew was 5 ft 3 and had mousey brown hair.
4) Most importantly, Andrew didn't appear to be very interested in the internet, or have the means to spend a lot of time on it, so it's unlikely he would've been part of an obscure YouTube community.

Thank you