What do you think happened to Andrew Gosden?

[Cheffymcchef]

Andrew Gosden was a 14-year-old boy from Doncaster, England, who vanished on September 14, 2007. He left home for school as usual but instead withdrew £200 from his bank account, changed into casual clothes, and bought a one-way train ticket to London King's Cross on a Friday morning. CCTV captured him arriving at the station at 11:25 AM, and that was the last confirmed sighting of him. Despite numerous appeals, media coverage, and even arrests in 2021 related to potential human trafficking, Andrew has never been found, and his disappearance remains one of the UK’s most baffling missing person cases. Andrew was a high achiever at school with 100% attendance and had never gone missing before. The school misdialled his parents when he did not show up, and when his parents returned from work they did not realise Andrew was missing, until dinner time when he did not appear at the table. They presumed he was in the basement gaming.

andrrw had lost two mobile phones in succession and had no home internet access or computer until the gosdens got it 8 weeks before he vanished. his sisters computer- the only one in the house- was checked, and nothing untoward found.

It’s such a little known case compared to Madeline McCann that I thought it would be good to remind everyone on here.

I personally think Andrew had been groomed by someone local who arranged to meet him that day and offered him a lift back. I think this person knew of the family and had probably been grooming Andrew for a long time. I do have someone in mind although obviously will not name names on this sub.

Oh, I agree, but we have absolutely no evidence he was doing this.

The OP is getting criticism for this, but there are many people who take an interest in crime and unsolved mysteries because they want to learn more so as to help in some way, and sometimes amateur sleuths do actually help the police.

Patton Oswalt's ex-wife, Michelle McNamara, was a writer - not connected with the police in any way. She was interested in the unsolved Golden State killer case and true crime in general because when she was a child, her neighbour, a little girl, was abducted and murdered, and this disturbed her greatly. She wrote a non-fiction book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark," which focused on her investigation into the Golden State Killer, later identified as Joseph DeAngelo. Her work contributed to the renewed interest in the case and ultimately played a role in DeAngelo's arrest.

Yep, hence me suggesting it goes in the True Crime and Unsolved Mysteries section of MN where those many people do exactly this all the time but OP believes she's an extra special sleuth doing vital work that goes above and beyond the rest, so kept it in this section where that criticism will happen.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/true-crime-and-unsolved-mysteries

Why add the catty comment? Reported

more people view this thread category thus more awareness of this missing boy.

it sucks you don’t seem to want him to be found and for people to know.

I found it in Active where it probably wouldnt be seen if it went into the crime section.

That is why I put it in the section I did. There is so much already about poor Andrew in the crime section that has just been ignored. Unfortunately some members on here just like to put the boot in.

Choosing to walk home from school could be a complete none event but it could also have been a chance to meet somebody. It’s time that could have been used to plan his trip to London.

He had the freedom for anything to be a possibility and parents who wouldn’t have suspected a thing.

It’s hard to believe he woke up one day and decided to head to London as it sounds carefully thought out. I often wondered if he was in contact with someone he met through the camp he had attended not long before. His missing phones or an unknown email address could have held some answers.

The camp was actually a full year before he went missing, not the summer that had just passed.

Only after your vile sexist and aggressive comment was reported and pulled. Which I’m glad about but it also showed a very different side to this crusading character you’re using. Pretty scary really. I’ll leave you to it.

It wasn’t sexist at all. It said I wondered if you’d worry if it was your own son who had gone missing. It got deleted because I swore in it as you well know,

Unless assuming you have a son is sexist.

either way it’s scary to think some people don’t care about missing people and think appeals should be wiped from here.

but ok, have a good day

That case fascinated me I always thought it would be someone she knew. Why on earth would a little girl leave the house in the middle of the night and go into the woods on her own in a thunderstorm very sad. There are so many unresolved cases of missing children.

Didn't she also walk along a highway alone at night in the rain? That made no sense especially at her young age. Some big puzzle piece is missing in that case.

I am not sure how they can absolutely rule out his access to the Internet, knowing how sneaky and secretive kids can be . Around the same time as Andrew went missing , I was a niaive teenager who had access to the Internet . I hid what i was up to from my parents. There were free sites like faceparty where you could freely chat to anyone. Creepy now I think back, but I had lots of messages, into the hundreds. I did start a few chats and I was asked to meet up in real life - I never did, but it was very easy to have the opportunity to meet up with someone. I wonder if he had chatted to someone online, maybe a music chat room, and it escalated from there.

I only learned about Andrew's case through Mumsnet and I think any awareness is a good thing. I'm a few years older than Andrew and was at uni when he went missing so I think that's why his case passed me by.

I do think there is some wilful ignorance or denial from the family. I agree with PPs that online messaging was huge and lots of us were hiding things we were getting up to from our parents so there's nothing to say Andrew wasn't the same. I was talking to strangers online (remember ASL?) at secondary school via MSN, Habbo Hotel and other platforms and that would have been around 2004. My parents have no idea that's what I was doing.

I get it though . It is preferable to think that Andrew went of his own free will rather than because of a groomer, although I do think unfortunately the second theory is the likely one.

I think people just assume it’s because he seemed to have no interest in using the internet at home and the school and library comps were searched. I feel like his two “lost” phones may hold a key to something. But presumably they never turned up.

I think the school computers were thoroughly checked. But yes I don’t rule it out. I honestly don’t blame the parents for their denial it must feel somewhat reassuring to them to feel like they’re able to rule SOMETHING out.

i know phones were a bit rubbish then but I unfortunately remember using them for chat sites/ sexting at that age. Thankfully never sending any pictures of myself as I had no clue about CSAM.

I was doing the same, as were all of my friends but I did met up with a handful of people. I was incredibly lucky that they were all decent but my parents had no idea.

My blood runs cold at the thought of it as my own child is now the same age as I was back then and I see how young we actually were.

Andrew was described as quite naive with street smarts despite being hugely intelligent, and his parents were self-described Luddites. He maybe didn’t have enough warnings about internet safety. But kids do stupid stuff at that age anyway

The last CCTV video shows him walking out of Kings Cross so I fail to see how he was at Paddington station which would indicate travel west. You don't need to exit Kings Cross to go to Paddington station - Circle line.

What strikes me about the last video is how little stuff he had with him. It was in mid September so not cold. He was without a jacket.

He didn't want to return, one way ticket and sadly 14 year olds do take their own lives.

I always thought it seemed like he was looking around for someone in the two CCTV videos at kings X.

What jumped out to me is the fact he had 100% attendance so skipping a day would have been a big deal. I can’t imagine he would have done it without a good cause because if he wanted to go to London his parents would have likely allowed him to go on the weekends.

His mum saying he was late at getting up and slightly irritated doesn’t sound like a boy who had made exciting plans to skip school and go to London for his own fun day out.

My thought is that he was pressured into going on that day and him walking home from school in the days before could have been time used to set up the plan via an unknown person. He could have been picked up in their car and nobody would have known. The same person could have been waiting to collect him as he left the train station and maybe they had told him they would drive him home later that day which would explain the one way ticket. It would also have been a way to gain his trust.

He got into a station that's quite full on. I always thought he knew exactly what he was doing from the CCTV videos.

Incredibly sad.

Okie dokie :)