True Crime (& More) With Caledonian Kitty

One of the important aspects of writing about true crime for me personally is the fact that not only do people tell me that they have learned about a case through my blog (or learned more about a case they thought they knew a lot about, through my work) but the fact that my writing (along with others in the true crime community) can put a case under the spotlight, especially what is classed as a 'historical case'. I've always said that it doesn't matter if someone has been missing for 10 days or 10 years or 20 years, it is still important and the relatives deserve to know what happened to their loved ones as well as the possibility (because miracles can happen) that the missing person can be found alive and well. Unfortunately we do have occasions where a long lost individual is eventually found but not alive and in a lot of cases, only partial remains are left. Sometimes there's no answers, sometimes we do get answers, nobody can ever predict the outcome of these heartbreaking situations. 

Recently I have been looking into some missing persons cases and one that has remained a mystery up to this very day is the sudden disappearance of 16 year old Kevin Hicks. Kevin, who is (I am going to say 'is' because out of respect for Kevin and his family I will not refer to him in the past tense until it is official that, that is the case) from a close family and lived with his mother Terry, father Derek and sister Alexandra, vanished without a trace on the evening of the 2nd of March 1986. 

Kevin, who at 16 reminded me of a young Stuart Adamson from the Scottish rock band 'Big Country' (I wonder if anyone ever told him that) was living in an area south of London known as Addiscombe in Croydon at the time of his disappearance. He had a great relationship with his sister Alexandra although they did have the normal squabbles that siblings often have, they got on most of the time and were quite close in age, people would often mistake them for being twins. Kevin took his studies seriously and Alexandra would later joke that she was the rebellious one out of the pair of them, preferring to go out with her friends whereas Kevin would always respect his parent's wishes and complete his homework as soon as he got home from school. He was quite the amateur chef and would often be playing around in the kitchen trying out different dishes and baking cakes. 

His parents would help support his love of cooking by helping him out with the ingredients and letting him have the kitchen to himself whenever the mood took him to make something. The night of 2nd of March 1986, which was a Sunday evening, the Hicks children were doing their usual Sunday night routine, organising their stuff for school in the morning. At some point Kevin remembered he needed some eggs for a class and and exam the next day. It was around 8:30 pm and although it was a bit of an annoyance he took just £1 and decided he was going to just nip to the local grocery store which would've taken about 5 minutes. 

When he walked out of the door, his family could not have foreseen what was to happen next. Five minutes soon passed...then 10 minutes.....then 30 minutes....then 2 hours, where was Kevin? Thinking there was a logical explanation, Kevin's concerned parents tried to convince themselves that Kevin must've bumped into a friend on the walk to the grocery store and decided to go to their house. This was the days before mobile phones (which we often knock but to be honest, mobile phones have been a real asset in certain true crime cases, sometimes being the key piece of evidence that has solved a particular crime) so there was no way of knowing, all you could do is sit and hope and when time had gotten on then it was time for phone calls to police, friends and neighbours. Kevin and Alexandra's parents always told them that if they didn't have any money for a public call box to always use reverse charge call. 

Derek and Terry were growing more and more concerned so Derek headed out in search of his son and found nothing, when the police were informed they're initial response infuriated the Hicks family and quite rightly so. The police claimed that Kevin had not been gone long enough for an alarm to be raised, they also mentioned that he was 16 years old as if that made any difference, 16 years old is still a child. Terry and Derek were ate their wits end making phone calls to other members of their family as well as Kevin's friends in the hope that someone would have information. They also made the daunting task of calling the local hospitals hoping to find an answer but at the same time praying that Kevin hadn't been involved in a terrible accident.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and Terry would constantly look out the window towards the route that Kevin took that evening, obsessed with the thought that at any minute Kevin could just appear and walk through the door. 

With no leads and nothing to go on, the police were finding themselves hitting a brick wall and it wasn't long before the desperation to get some sort of conclusion to the case drove them to start intimidating Kevin's sister Alexandra. The poor girl was trying to get through the constant worry about where her brother was and she was being quizzed constantly by adults who believed she knew more information than she was letting on. Alex was in the same boat as everyone else, she hadn't a clue where Kevin was and spent many a night lying in bed awake worried sick. Terry and Derek were getting more and more desperate that they (obviously not thinking clearly at the time due to all the stress and worry) began hounding Alexandra for some answers. 

Kevin's disappearance didn't only shock the Hicks family, it shocked the neighbourhood as well as his school as he was thought of quite highly by his teachers and those who knew him. Kevin wasn't a troubled boy and there were no red flags, signs of anything unusual going on or secret friends to anyone's knowledge. He was just a normal kid and nothing was out of the ordinary before he left that spring night. Searches took place and Alexandra later spoke of how she was upset that she wasn't allowed to take part but being young at the time, I can understand her parents wanting to protect her. I imagine taking part in a search for a missing child to be one of the most difficult and brave things to do, not only is it emotionally and physically exhausting but you don't know what the outcome is going to be. It would have been utterly devastating if Alexandra had stumbled across something she shouldn't have, it could have traumatized her for life. 

During the search, Kevin's grandfather found what looked like a pile of black trash bags and everyone was terrified as you can imagine. On further inspection the bags just turned out to be trash and for a brief moment in a never ending cycle of panic and worry, there was a huge sigh of relief. The police had contacted the owners of the grocery store and requested to view the CCTV tapes. The grocery store owners told the police that the cameras were not in operation and merely just for display. They also said that they had seen Kevin come into the store, buy some eggs and then leave without incident. Everything appeared to be normal and nobody was with him.

Soon months turned into years and the police began to get more and more distant and their focus on the case was starting to lack. The Hicks family and their friends never gave up hope and continued to do what they could to keep awareness of Kevin's disappearance in the public eye. Terry and Derek appeared on TV and interviews as well as Crimewatch (a popular TV show which focused on true crime, missing people and unsolved cases). 

Then the unbelievable happened....the years turned into decades with still nothing to go on. It' is Kevin's 55th birthday this year and it's been nearly 40 years since he went missing. Terry, sadly never having the answers of what happened to Kevin or where he was, passed away. In an interview Alexandra claimed that she and her father had been counting bouquets of flowers that had been left in tribute to Terry at her funeral. When they returned the next day, they noticed that there was a bouquet of flowers that were not there before. Alexandra believes that they could have possibly been left by Kevin. 

Alexandra hangs on to the hope that he is still alive and thinks that he may have ended up in the Navy as a chef as it wasn't as difficult to get into the forces back then as it is now. But would that make sense? to leave your family all of these years with heartbreaking unanswered questions and never-ending worry? Some investigators believe that Kevin was sadly abducted and murdered, there are so many theories out there about what happened to him but it all remains a very sad mystery. Derek sadly passed away leaving Alexandra to take on the heavy task of trying to keep the flame alive for her brother. She refused to declare him deceased after the 10 year mark and has continued to have hope ever since that she will have answers.

With the latest technology, Alexandra has worked hard to take her search for her brother to online apps and forums hoping that someone somewhere will remember something or quite possibly recognise the photograph of Kevin and might know someone at work who looks like him, just anything, any piece of information, no matter how small could do so much. 

I have included a list of links below as well as other details if there is anyone out there who has any piece of information, no matter how small. You may have heard someone talk about Kevin who thinks that they might have seen him that night or heard about his whereabouts since. If you feel scared to contact authorities for whatever reason, feel free to message me anonymously and I will pass the information on. Let's hope and pray that Alexandra can get the answers she so desperately needs and we do hope by some miracle that this has a positive ending but being nearly 40 years and the circumstances in which Kevin vanished, in my opinion, it looks like an abduction. I just can't imagine that he would put his family through all of this intentionally and for both of his parents to pass away and there to be no word or contact from him. What are your thoughts? Please leave them below in the comment section or email me in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

Further Reading & Sources:

- Kevin Hicks | Missing People

- Kevin Hicks | Informing Britain

- Kevin Hicks: Article | The Sun

- Kevin Hicks: Article | BBC News

- Kevin Hicks | Crime Corner

- Alexandra Hicks | X

- Alexandra Hicks | Bournemouth Echo

- Croydon | Wikipedia

Kevin Hicks was last seen on the night of the 2nd of March 1986 in Croydon, London. He was wearing a white, black and red Lacoste bomber jacket, jeans and white Hi-Tec trainers. 

If you have any information please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 (you can choose to be anonymous on this call). 

You can also phone or text Missing People on 116 000 or email them in confidence (quoting ref: 92-000027) or email 116@missingpeople.org.uk 

Let's hope we have some news either from Kevin himself or about Kevin soon. Thank you for taking the time to read my latest post, I really appreciate it. Until next time, please stay safe and I hope to see you on my socials x

*Please be aware that the details that I will be sharing in this post will be disturbing. I will try as always to be as sensitive as I can be with the details without taking away the facts of the case. Please feel free to email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com if you have any questions or specific comments regarding this post*

The picture you see at the beginning of this post is the true face of evil and it belongs to that of a sick monster by the name of Sidney Cooke otherwise known as 'Hissing Sid' or the leader of the infamous paedophile ring 'The Dirty Dozen'. He was the ringleader of other sick and perverted monsters who carried out numerous abductions, r*pes and murders of young, vulnerable boys around London as well as elsewhere in the UK from the 1960s all the way through to the 1980s. The reason he is no longer committing cruel and evil crimes towards children is because he is currently rotting behind bars where he belongs. Having him off the streets and locked away is a positive thing but it's unfortunate that he is still alive and living off of the tax payers money at the ripe old age of 98! It's hard to believe that one of the worst and most sadistic predatory paedophile's that Britain has ever seen has made it to the age of 98 especially with his sickening lifestyle he had led as a free man for decades. 

In the UK just hearing the name 'Sidney Cooke' just sends a chill down many a spine but outside of the UK there may be people who are unaware of his crimes, after all we sadly live in a world where every country has it's demons and monsters who commit all sorts of atrocities. In every country around the world they will sadly have their own version of Sidney Cooke. 

In this post, as stated at the beginning, I will be sharing disturbing details that will make your blood boil especially as Sidney Cooke and his accomplices never expressed remorse for their crimes, in fact they would brag, celebrate, tell anyone who would listen (or be forced to listen) over and over again about what they had done and what they would like to do if they ever made it out of prison. The likes of Sidney Cooke are utterly terrifying because this monster who has no remorse, is addicted to sexually abusing young boys to the point where the assaults are so severe, traumatic and brutal that the young victim dies before being disposed of like a piece of trash with the help of other men he had bonded with. No matter the age of Sidney Cooke he would never stop being a danger to children and enlisted the help of others to join in on his crimes. 

To this day it is still unclear how many deaths of young boys that Sidney Cooke and his accomplices are responsible for as the gang's crimes came to light in the 1980s. Sidney made no secret of how he enjoyed his evil acts against defenceless children and if he wasn't bragging to the police about previous incidences, he was telling whoever he shared a jail cell with, about the graphic details of numerous crimes. It seemed Sidney enjoyed reliving these horrific attacks and murders where the majority took place in the run down area of Kingsmead estate in Hackney, East London. Here he had set up a flat with other paedophiles and it was here that vulnerable boys would go through hell, some were homeless runaways, some were rent boys and others were abducted by the gang from a fairground as Sidney worked there on one of the amusements. Sidney would use his job at this fairground to lure young boys and they would either be abducted or lured back to the flat at Kingsmead with promises of sweets, alcohol and money. 

Sidney and his evil gang would take the boys back to the flat and subject them to horrific sexual assaults that would last hours, sometimes days. They later claimed that some of these boys were let go after the sick men were finished with the abuse but quite a number of young boys who are thought to be linked to the gang have never been found. There are some cases of missing boys who vanished around the time that Sidney and his gang were operating in London but there is no evidence or remains of any of these missing boys to convict the gang, only gossip from cellmates who claim that Sidney and other members of the gang confessed to murdering numerous boys. 

One of the boys, Jason Swift was only 14 years old when he was sleeping rough on the streets of London. His family begged him to come home but for whatever reason he chose not to return although he did say that he had plans to return to his family. It was revealed that Jason had been doing some sex work in exchange for money. The handsome young boy was soon spotted by Sidney and co and taken back to the flat where each member of the gang agreed to pay Jason £5 to have sex with him. They gave the boy alcohol and drugs then proceeded to take turns and the whole horrific ordeal went on for days, they just constantly abused him until his body couldn't take it anymore and he died. The horrible details (and I'm trying to be as sensitive as I can be here) of Jason being forcefully held down by these men, the brutality of it all was just sickening and the stuff of nightmares. When Jason was deceased (death was later determined to be by strangulation according to a coroner's report) they wrapped him up and carried his body out of the flat and this was said to have been a regular occurrence, the gang being seen carrying out what looked like a rolled up piece of rug or carpet and placing it in a car. Jason's body was later found in a shallow grave just outside of London. 

The paedophile gang led by Sidney Cooke were said to have included Robert Oliver, Lennie Smith, Leslie Bailey, Steven Barrell, (with close links to two prolific paedophiles) Bill Malcolm and former Scoutmaster Brian Turner. Over the years various names have been linked to Sidney Cooke, even serial killer couple Fred and Rose West (Sidney was born on the 18th of April 1927 in Stroud, Gloucestershire where the Wests were from) as well as certain politicians but that's a whole other rabbit hole to go down and I want to focus on this part of the story in this post. 

Leslie Bailey had been arrested and jailed for his part in the abuse of a young boy and whilst in prison he bragged about the gang's sickening activities at that den of horror involving these poor boys. Word got back to investigators that Leslie was bragging and they wanted to see if he would reveal to then some of the details especially as they had a series of missing children on their books and one they were interested in talking to him about was six year old Barry Lewis. The police believed that the murders of Jason Swift and Barry Lewis were connected as both boys were found near to each other and just days apart. To their surprise, Leslie spilled the horrific details and told the police that Barry abducted by the gang and subjected to a horrific sexual assault where he had been drugged and passed around each of the gang members until he was near death. After these monsters had finished these sickening act they conducted the same routine with Barry, wrapped his body up and took him out to the car but this time the plan had a problem. Barry had managed to suddenly move and it was soon clear he was alive and began to try and sit up in the car. Leslie confessed that he had murdered Barry as the child cried and screamed for his mother, Leslie suffocated the six year old child, his body later disposed of in the same manner as Jason's. 

Now the rest of the gang were under the spotlight for not only Barry's horrific abuse and murder but Leslie's other information that he shared with the police about Jason. The investigators now knew that the murders of the two boys were linked and by the same perpetrators. One of the appalling facts about this case is the way in which authorities handled the murder of Jason Swift. Originally the gang were charged with murder and quite rightly so but they couldn't prove who was the one who murdered Jason as each of them had a part to play in his demise, shockingly their sentences were changed to manslaughter and Sidney Cooke went from being given 19 years (which was disgusting for the horrendous r*pe and murder of a child and not to mention he was suspected of numerous child murders, authorities just didn't have the evidence) which was bad enough but worst was to come when he ended up just serving nine years and was out again on the streets. The murder of Jason was painted as this homosexual orgy that went wrong partly due to the fact that Jason had been working the streets (so there may have been some judgement there) and had been seen with the gang previously. 

A high profile missing case involving the sudden disappearance of a seven year old boy by the name of Mark Tildesley was brought up in Leslie Bailey's conversations with the police. He claimed that Mark had fallen victim to Sidney and the gang (this was later confirmed by other gang members). Another known paedophile Lennie Smith along with Sidney Cooke was named as the killers of the young boy but due to the fact the other accusers were also part of the gang and paedophiles themselves, authorities claimed that their word could not be taken seriously especially with the lack of evidence. Leslie was the only one who confessed to being part of Mark's murder but for some reason he got the book thrown at him and was sentenced to two life sentences. He died in prison in 1993 after being murdered by two cellmates. 

(Mark Tildesley. Picture credit: Wikipedia)

Sidney Cooke was released in 1998 to public outcry and during this time the police had re-opened various unsolved cases of young boys disappearing around the time that the gang were active. Sidney got arrested again in 1999 he was found guilty of the sexual abuse of two brothers and given a five year term, when this five year term was up he was refused parole. Since then he had continued to be refused parole because he is deemed a danger to children and he himself has admitted that if he is released he will abuse more children. It seems he does not want to be released from prison as he enjoys boasting to investigators of his crimes with not a shred of remorse. He has also told the police that he knows where Mark Tildesley is buried but he refuses to reveal the location. 

Just recently (in June 2025 at time of me writing this post) he was denied parole for the twelfth time and has been the victim of an attack by a fellow prisoner. Sidney was bashed in the face a few times with a metal flask. 

It's heartbreaking and infuriating to know that Sidney Cooke and his evil associates could be responsible for over 20 r*pes and murders of innocent young boys but proper justice will never be seen by those poor boys families due to mishandling of investigations and lack of evidence. I think going by the timeline of the missing boys, their profiles, the areas that they went missing it fits in with how the gang operated but Sidney Cooke who was the proven leader of all of this sickening hell, has hinted at all of these suspected cases and continued to play games with the authorities. At 98 years of age he has nothing to lose, he knows he is going to die in prison and he simply does not care, he never cared. He doesn't have one shred of decency in him just to tell the loved ones of Mark Tildesley where his remains are buried, he is 100% rotten to the core. 

Isn't it sickening that we have amazing people who pass away at a young age due to a terrible illness or they have their lives taken as in the case of these poor young boys, but some unimaginable monsters like Sidney Cooke are still alive, at this point he is just an oxygen thief as well as a waste of tax payers money. Imagine at the age of 98 still being a cold-hearted creature who still lives off the memories of the pain, cruelty and suffering that you inflicted on defenceless young boys. One wonders if Sidney ever has a moment (I highly doubt it to be honest) where he has a moment of fear when he thinks about the moment he dies and what is on the other side for him. I hope he lives in fear but you know he would never reveal that, he continues to be the monster he always was and the fact that authorities are keeping him locked up is about time they did something right for a change. We are all fed up of seeing dangerous people being given light sentences in the UK or sometimes no sentence at all and we are all fed up of people being locked up for the most pathetic of reasons. 

These horrible men the so-called 'Dirty-Dozen' (what a pathetic term to call them and it sort of downplays how evil and twisted they really were) are responsible for wiping out so many young lives due to their own sickening depravity and some of the members of this gang had been sexually abused themselves in their childhoods. You would think they would turn out differently having known the pain that a child goes though in such horrible, traumatic situations but not these types of perverts, they are abused themselves and they go on to abuse others. I just want to make it clear here that not all victims of childhood sexual abuse go on to be abusers, some survivors go on to help others and become amazing people. These people who took part in this gang were just pure monsters and sometimes there's just no answers for the evil in this world. But as I mentioned before at the start of this post, we live with the sad fact and reality that there is hundreds of Sidney Cooke's out there in the world and I don't say that to give everyone fear, I say that as a harsh reality. Literally in this world you have to have eyes on the back of your head, keep yourself and your loved ones as safe as you possibly can. 

You often hear people saying that back in their day things were better, safer, kids could play outside etc but I sit here as someone who has written about hundreds upon hundreds of cases from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, right up to the present day and when it comes to child safety and people's safety in general, we still had some of the most horrific murderers and child predators back then, we just hear about it more now because of modern technology. 

I wish the families of these boys has answers, will Sidney Cooke ever change his cold, black heart and give these families some closure and peace, even on his death bed? I hate to say it but I doubt it. He's like another Ian Brady & Myra Hindley he'll take his sick secrets to his unmarked grave. 

RIP to Jason, Barry, Mark and all of the lost boys who have never been identified, who never will be identified and who have yet to be identified. Maybe one day someone's remains will be found and a grieving family will finally find some peace but in the meantime we pray for them and out hearts go out to them. 

Further Reading & Resources:

- Sidney Cooke: Article | The Sun

- Deaths of Children | Islington Survivors

- Mark Tildesley | Wikipedia

- Sidney Cooke | BBC News

- Kingsmead Estate: Article | The Guardian

- Sidney Cooke | Wikipedia

- Sidney Cooke: Article | Daily Mail 

- Jason Swift: Article | Islington Gazette

Thank you as always for taking the time to read my latest post and help support my work, I really appreciate it and hope you will join me in my next post. In the meantime I hope you will join me on my Socials and if you would like to buy me a coffee and help support my weekly content, you can do so here, thank you.

Stay safe x

It's been nearly 18 years since the baby faced and bright young boy, Andrew Gosden stepped off the train in London's King's Cross station never to be seen again. A few moments of him walking through the station, recorded on CCTV cameras is all that is available to his family, investigators and the public. As the years have gone by, nobody is closer to any answers and as one can imagine, his parents, sister and wider family continue to endure the pain of not knowing where he is or what has happened to him? Is he alive (as we all hope) or has something terrible happened? It's a horrible situation to be in and as a parent with a missing child I cannot imagine how that must feel.

It may have been close to 18 years that Andrew vanished but to his family, it feels like yesterday, and as a sympathetic stranger, I take heart in knowing that so many people still care about Andrew's whereabouts to this day, the information posters are still up in public places, his pictures and story are all over the internet and nobody has forgotten about him, which can sadly be the situation with some missing persons cases who have been gone for a considerable amount of time. I have always said that people should never give up hope because we have seen the miracle of some cases where someone has been found decades later, it is possible and it can happen. 

So many children go missing every year and some are returned safe and well to their families, some are saved from horrendous situations and some are still out there somewhere with their loved ones left behind not only missing them terribly but imagining the worst. One of the heartbreaking aspects to Andrew's story is that we are no longer looking for a child, we are now looking for an adult. He was just 14 years old back in 2007 when he disappeared but he looked so much younger and was often mistaken for being 12. Andrew is from a loving home and the fact that his family have been completely devoted to finding out what really happened says a lot about their never-ending love for their beloved 'Roo' as he is affectionately known. 

In some missing persons cases after a period of time has passed, the family of the individual who are suffering year after year with no answers sometimes get to a point where, for example a decade has passed and there's no closure and despite every avenue gone down, there is no answer and so the missing person is often declared deceased. Despite the fact that we are nearly crossing the 18 year mark, Andrew's family are not giving up and the various interviews they have done have been very truthful and open about how this nightmare has deeply affected their lives to the point that Andrew's father has suffered with his mental health and considered ending his life on more than one occasion, thank goodness he is still with us. 

Andrew's home life was quite a relaxed one and he wanted for nothing when it came to his parents. There was no traumatic events or problems at home for him to want to run away but the events of the next day left a list of questions that have never been answered. On the morning of the 14th of September 2007, Andrew got up for school but he was acting a bit grouchy on this particular morning which was slightly unusual because he was usually a very self-motivated and upbeat person in the mornings but his parents just took this to mean that he must not have had much sleep the night before. He seemed fine once he'd properly woken up, gotten ready and headed out of the front door to go to school (which had just recently started up again after the summer holidays), all seemed fine. 

Andrew's parents went to work as usual and that morning seemed just like any other morning, however, Andrew returned to the house a bit later and took off his uniform and changed into a black pair of trousers and a Slipknot t-shirt. He took a few items with him in a black backpack but not clothes or anything that you would take if you were planning a trip or to leave somewhere. He took a handheld video game but left the charger at home which indicated that either he forgot the charger or didn't think he would need it because he may have planned to return later? He went to a cash machine at some point and drew out £200. 

His next known movements were to Doncaster train station where he purchased a one-way ticket to London's King's Cross station. The lady at the ticket office told him that he could have a return for just an extra 50p but he refused. He got on to the train and when he reached London't King's Cross, the CCTV camera had been able to capture his last known movements but that is all. He arrived at the station at 11:20 am and the time stamp on the CCTV camera where he was last seen as he got off of the train was 11:25 am, since then, it all remains a compete mystery as to what happened next. On the camera footage he is alone and nobody is talking to him. 

Andrew didn't take a phone (to anyone's knowledge) and leading up to his disappearance there seemed to be an issue with him and phones. He had a habit of losing mobile phones and on the third occasion his parents offered to buy him a new one but he refused it. Despite what is noted as being the correct contents of what was in Andrew's bag, how do we know for sure? I think he had a secret phone that he kept private from his parents but I could be wrong. Although everything seemed fine in the run up to the 14th of September, his parents did notice that Andrew had requested to walk home from school which raised a few eyebrows but his parents assumed it would be fine. The time it would take him to walk from his school to his home would be approximately and hour and a half. That is strange for a kid who's been at school all day and then having the energy to want to walk home for an hour and a half. Some kids just can't wait to get in the door, grab some food and get on the internet but Andrew wanted to walk home despite the time and length of the journey. 

At first his parents hadn't realised that he had not been to school and that he was not in the house. They saw the school uniform when they returned home from work themselves and assumed that he was somewhere in the house. It quickly became clear that he wasn't there and the authorities were contacted. Despite an investigation, information posters and appeals and the dedication of Andrew's parents, family, neighbours and friends, nothing more is known about what happened to Andrew. In 2021 two men were arrested and  accused of human trafficking and kidnap, police believed they had been involved with Andrew's disappearance. This shocking development in the case stunned everyone but the two men were released from police custody due to lack of evidence and no more was said about it. 

In 2025 we are nowhere near to any answers and it seems so bizarre that in a huge city like London, nobody has any information whatsoever. There have been suspected sightings over the years but they turned out to be mistaken. So where is Andrew? When he stepped off of that train in King's Cross station where did he go? Did he meet someone? Apparently Andrew wasn't a fan of the internet, didn't play his games online with anyone else, didn't own a phone (to his parents knowledge) and the computer in the family home was checked and there was no suspicious activity. 

Theories have continued to go around and around that Andrew was running away to start a new life, other people believe he was going to take his own life which is very sad and one can't imagine him choosing to do that and not leave a letter for his family but none of us know the truth. Some people think that he was meeting someone or had been kidnapped. There was also the theory that he may have decided to visit some relatives that lived in London but those relatives said that he never contacted them or visited them. The mystery remains and it's really heartbreaking because so many years have gone by and there is nothing. 

Andrew's parents have expressed that he was bright academically but didn't talk much about his life at school and although very intelligent, he wasn't streetwise and quite quiet, preferring to be by himself just playing video games and reading. For him to get on a train on his own from Doncaster to the big, bustling city of London and in particular the iconic King's Cross Station (which sees 50 million commuters pass through it every year from all over the UK and the world) is completely out of character. The station itself is huge and very busy, the city of London is huge and like a maze, if you're on your own and don't know where you're going it can be quite dangerous (even more so now but even back in 2007).

All we can do is continue to talk about Andrew, give his family our support, share information and never give up hope. Let's pray there are some answers soon and that he is still with us. 

- Help Us To Find Andrew | Website

- Andrew Gosden | Missing People

- Disappearance of Andrew Gosden | Wikipedia

- Andrew Gosden: Discussion Thread | Reddit

- Andrew Gosden: Article | BBC News

- Andrew Gosden: Article | Examiner Live

- Andrew Gosden: Article | BBC News

- Andrew Gosden: Article | Big Issue

- Andrew Gosden: Article | Yahoo

- Doncaster Railway Station | Wikipedia

- London King's Cross Railway Station | Wikipedia

- South Yorkshire Police | Website

- Andrew Gosden - CCTV Footage

- Kevin Gosden Interview

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I hope you will join me for my next one. In the meantime, I hope you will join me on my Socials

Stay safe until next time x 

(Bruce Johnston Sr. Picture credit: philadelphia.today)

*Please be aware that I will be talking about some sensitive subjects in this post to do with murder and sexual assault. I will try to be as sensitive as I can be with the details without taking way from the facts of this case* 

When it comes to iconic movies of the 1980's especially where thrillers are concerned, At Close Range is right up there as a classic. With Christopher Walken and Sean Penn at the head of a brilliant cast it's no surprising that the film has continued to be a firm favourite. Christopher Walken is just brilliant in everything he does and he can play such sinister roles where he can leave you literally on the edge of your seat, feeling uncomfortable, waiting for him to just explode in a fit of anger but then he will surprise you by suddenly smiling. He is a remarkable actor and is considered to be one of the greatest actors in cinema history. Sean Penn is also a fantastic, versatile actor. But, as much as I would like to go on about how incredible this movie is, it's not a review post (leave that to my Letterboxd account). This post is about the true story that inspired this movie. 

A lot of people are surprised to find that the movie is based on a true story, they can't quite believe it but it is true, well.....most of it. Investigators who worked on the case were contacted during the making of the movie and they refused to be involved with it because they didn't agree with some of the content, especially with how Sean Penn's character was portrayed as a somewhat sympathetic individual. 

At Close Range focuses on the real life case of the notorious Johnston gang (names and certain details in the movie were changed but for the most part the story is accurate) which was founded and led by Bruce Alfred Johnston Sr alongside his brothers, Norman and David, the trio also had long term associates who were part of their gang and as a collective they were something of a criminal mastermind, these guys were no small town crooks who did a bit of shoplifting here and there. These guys were safe code crackers, alarm dismantlers (I don't even know if that is an official word but I'm leaving it in because I know you will know what I mean by that), experts in antiques, firearms, picking locks, stealing cars and mechanics. They also knew the value and quality of precious metals, diamonds and coins. They could tell if certain piece of jewelry was fake or valuable. They also knew about the value of certain car parts, farming equipment including tractors and also knew how to make bombs, When it came to theft and avoiding proper justice these guys were unbelievable so it's no wonder a movie was made about them and to this very day people are fascinated by this incredible story. 

This gang who reportedly never paid for a thing through honest hard work, had built a criminal enterprise that went on for the best part of 20 years having been active in the 1960's and 1970's in their local area of Chester County, USA before branching out to other states. During their crime hey day they single handedly were responsible for most of the crime that had gone on in their local area as well as across state lines. When Bruce Sr estranged sons (Bruce Jr and James Johnstone aka 'Jimmy') became involved with him they went on to create their own gang which was nicknamed 'The Kiddie Gang'. Bruce Sr acted as a mentor to the boys and encouraged them to round up a few of their friends to join them, Bruce Sr, his brothers and associates agreed to teach the boys how to steal and crack codes in return for whatever money was made to be divided up between the Kiddie gang and Bruce Sr (the majority of the money going to Bruce Sr).

Bruce Jr and Jimmy Johnston had no proper relationship with their father Bruce Sr for the majority of their upbringing. They were raised by their mother who remarried. Bruce Sr and their mother had been divorced for many years and Bruce Sr was pretty much an absent father with a notorious reputation. The Johnston gang were well known to the police and the local community but they ruled by fear. If anyone dare say a bad word against them or even try to complain to the police the gang would take action against that particular individual. 

Things did fall apart eventually for Bruce Sr, his brother and his associates in very dramatic fashion as you may know from the movie. This criminal business that had been in operation for decades came to an even more horrific end that was even more shocking than anyone could have anticipated. Bruce Jr (who was 19) and his brother Jimmy (18) were very close but found themselves out of work, no direction in life and no proper guidance. It was Bruce Jr's idea to contact his father out of the blue, they knew the rumours about him and both Bruce Jr and Jimmy were curious. When they finally did arrange a meeting with their father they were completely in awe of the money and lifestyle that Bruce Sr was living in. Bruce Sr appeared to be a man of leisure who almost moved around like he was a celebrity, people would say hello to him at the local bars where he would buy people drinks like money was no object and he appeared to be very charismatic (as long as you didn't get on the wrong side of him). Bruce was sharply dressed, had nice shoes, jewelry and cars, when he pulled out his wallet it was stacked with notes, the boys saw all of this and desired the same. 

In the beginning Bruce Sr wasn't so sure about letting the boys in to his world, he was very careful about who he trusted and even lied to the boys in the beginning that everything he made and owned was completely his own. He would put the boys through tests to see if they were loyal and would keep their mouths shut if the cops ever approached them. When they had gotten to the point where Bruce Sr felt that they had shown their loyalty to him he decided that he he would let his guard down and teach them 'The Family Business'. 

The Johnston gang were able to evade proper justice for so many years because of their methods of intimidating and threatening witnesses. If they found out that someone had been talking to the cops that person would find themselves getting a phone call at 3 am warning them to keep their mouth shut or a device or bullet would somehow magic it's way into that person's car with them or their family members in it. The threatening calls and intimidation always worked and it drove the police crazy. The number of times that the police felt that they finally had them they would lose them again. There was some time spend in jail here and there but only small jail terms and all that did was put a little break in between their crime sprees. The moment any of the gang left the prison gates they were back to business. 

After the shocking murder of two cops who were keeping an eye on the gang occurred, police surveillance on Bruce Sr, his brothers and their associates stepped up full gear. Investigators believed that if they fully committed themselves to keeping an eye on every move that Bruce Sr and co made, they themselves would catch them in the act and be witnesses themselves to the thefts. In their minds, as the witnesses would be cops there would be no way they could intimidate them into staying silent and this would be the perfect way to have them locked up for a very long time if not for good. 

As the end of the 1970's approached it was all starting to fall apart for Bruce Sr and his associates. The kiddie gang had been doing well after a shaky start but they did bring in some money for Bruce Sr however there was a problem for the Johnston gang, Bruce Jr had fallen in love with a local girl named Robin Miller who was only 15 years old. Robin lived with her mother on a farm and was a very bright, well spoken and sharp witted young girl who wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She was quite popular not only at school but with the locals and Bruce Jr was completely smitten with her. There was an age gap as he was 19 at the time and both were from very different backgrounds but the young couple seemed to be happy and Bruce Jr showered Robin with gifts which included gold necklaces and her mother would ask her where these expensive pieces of jewelry came from. 

Robin would of course cover for Bruce Jr but she didn't agree with what he was doing and she herself had heard about the Johnston gang and knew that they had a bad reputation. Bruce Jr, being under the spell of his father at that time tried to convince her that his father was not at all like he was being portrayed. I think it's important to include here that Bruce Sr and the rest of the Johnston gang did have members of the community that kept quiet for them not just out of fear but because they would actually buy the stolen goods from the gang. Bruce Sr would loan people money, give people certain items for cheaper than they would normally have to pay and in some cases if he was feeling generous, he'd give them two tractors for the price of one (depending on the value and condition of the said tractors of course).

Robin eventually met Bruce Sr and it was clear from the start that Bruce Sr saw the young girl as a threat to the family business, he saw her as an outsider and someone who talked too much. Her bubbly personality and intelligence worried him especially as he could see how smitten Bruce Jr was with her. If she was to speak to the wrong person or tell a friend or if Bruce Jr told her the family secrets that would be the gang finished and he couldn't let that happen. 

Despite Robin trying to convince Bruce Jr to leave the kiddie gang and be on the straight and narrow, Bruce Jr found himself torn between her, the lifestyle and his father. Bruce Jr enjoyed the money that came with it all and realised that he would have to get a real job and then there was the consequences of getting on the wrong side of his father who not only taught him the role but gave him money, cars and treated him to delicious food at fancy restaurants. It was a difficult decision to make. With everything going on it was no surprise that Bruce Jr found himself getting caught for theft and put in jail for a short spell. Bruce Sr was furious and blamed his son's involvement with Robin as being the reason why he was starting to get careless. 

With Bruce Jr behind bars the cops were hoping that he would be the key to bringing down the Johnston criminal empire but Bruce Jr kept his word to his father and stayed silent. Robin and Bruce Jr would write to each other whilst he was locked up and this also made Bruce Sr nervous about what Robin could be possibly writing in these letters, he knew investigators were trying to get information out of Bruce Jr and that everything was being watched. 

Bruce Sr came up with a plan to scare Robin away from his son and is a very sadistic way told her that he could take her to see Bruce Jr, knowing how she was missing him so much and getting to the jail to visit him wasn't easy for her. Of course Robin jumped at the chance to go and visit her boyfriend but when Bruce Sr and another male associate picked up Robin, that wasn't what they had in mind. When Robin was in the vehicle the two men put on a pretence that all was well and that they were all going to see Bruce Jr. Bruce Sr pulled out some alcohol and began drinking alongside the other man. They both pressured the young girl to drink and to drink fast, being as small as she was it didn't take much time for her to be affected by the alcohol. They never went to visit Bruce Jr, the sick pair sexually assaulted the frightened young girl and warned her to stay away from Bruce Jr or expect more of the same. 

A month after this horrific ordeal Robin bravely plucked up the courage and wrote a letter to Bruce Jr telling him everything that had happened. Bruce Jr was enraged and sickened as anyone would be, he decided that he was going to give the cops what they wanted which was everything on his father, his uncles and their associates. 

It wasn't all plain sailing though because although the cops knew Bruce Sr and the gang were responsible for various crimes, they needed evidence, more witnesses and soon one by one the kiddie gang were in their sights to be questioned. What resulted in this was bloodshed, at the orders of Bruce Sr and even mostly carried out by him, members of the Kiddie gang (including his own son Jimmy) were shot in the back of the head and buried in a ditch. Bruce Jr and Robin were still alive and there were issues around Bruce Jr being placed on the witness protection program. Robin's mother later tried to sue the police department but the waters were murky in this situation because Bruce Jr would not follow the rules that had been given to him by the cops and one of those rules was to keep distance from Robin which he refused to do.

Both Robin and Bruce Jr were very naive being so young and because the police were involved they may have thought that because Bruce Sr and the others were being watched by the cops that it may have been safe for them to just carry on about their lives. However, this was a gang who had been in operation for decades and knew all the sneaky ways to go about things, Bruce Sr might not have been the one who pulled the trigger but he would find someone, pay them the right price and they would, and that's what sadly happened. 

After a day of spending time having fun at a park, Bruce Jr and Robin pulled up outside her home on the night of August 30th 1978. Their plan was to run away together but it wasn't to be because even before the pair had tried to exit the car they were set upon by a wave of bullets. Bruce Jr had been shot around 8 times and Robin had been shot in the face. The pair had managed to crawl out of the car and get into the house where they ended up in Robin's bedroom. Robin was bleeding profusely, Bruce Jr was barely hanging on and felt helpless having been shot numerous times in his head and chest, he could see that Robin was slowly slipping away. When emergency services arrived it was clear that no more could be done for Robin, she was just 15 years old. 

In the hospital, Doctors worked tirelessly to keep Bruce Jr alive and it was later revealed that members of the Johnston gang had actually tried to get into the hospital to basically finish the job. The gang wanted Robin and Bruce Jr dead so there would be nobody left to tell the truth. Bruce Jr was made of stronger stuff and managed to hang on much to the shock of Bruce Sr and co. The cops finally had the Johnston gang right where they wanted them and these dangerous men were finally put behind bars.

I would love to say that Bruce Jr despite the horrendous trauma and ordeal had somehow made a new life for himself but sadly, so far it hasn't been the case. Bruce Jr himself, even without his father in the picture can not turn himself away from a life of crime and time in prison has become a way of life for him. As I mentioned before, part of the reason people connected in this case were not happy with the way that Sean Penn portrayed the character based on Bruce Jr (although it was an incredible performance) was that Bruce Jr was no angel, he wasn't a complete monster like his father but he still did unforgivable things and continued to do so throughout his life. 

No excuses to be made but Bruce Jr has been through a lot of traumatic events in his life and no doubt found out the shocking and heartbreaking details of his close brother's death. It was revealed that Jimmy was shot but was still alive when he was thrown into the ditch and buried by his own father and accomplices. 

As for the members of the infamous Johnston gang, well some became informers and broke deals in exchange for information, some had been murdered and the three figure heads of the whole operation (that the cops were hell-bent on getting), were finally brought to justice. Bruce Sr was convicted of the murders of Robin Miller, Gary Crouch, James Sampson , Duane Lincoln and for the murder of his son Jimmy and the attempted murder of his son Bruce Jr. He was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. He died on August the 8th 2002 at the age of 63 from liver disease. His brothers, Norman and David were were both convicted of the murders of their nephew Jimmy, Robin Miller, Wayne Sampson and Duane Lincoln. both of them were sentenced to four life sentences. 

Norman Johnston is still alive and had managed to escape prison for a short period of time in 1999. He is now in a different prison continuing his sentence. David Johnston, according to some reports passed away in prison in 2015 but not much has been reported about that. If anyone knows any details about the circumstances of his death please leave them below in the comments section if you wish. 

In another sick twist to this unbelievable story, when Bruce Sr passed away his body was buried in Fremont Union Cemetery in Nottingham, Chester County, the exact place where Robin Miller was laid to rest. Robin has a modest grave which from time to time has flowers but Bruce Sr's grave is nowhere to be seen by those who have tried to find it for whatever reason, it has been revealed that he was placed in an unmarked grave. 

The Johnston gang had made millions of dollars in their long lasting era of crime which spanned decades, the majority of the money and items stolen were never recovered. 

With this case, it seems the only person who was completely innocent, who never put a foot wrong was Robin, just a 15 year old girl with her whole life ahead of her, being involved with the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Being so young, naive and in love there was no way that she could have possibly prevented events from happening, she was just a child at the end of the day and the young Johnston brothers, Bruce Jr and Jimmy were just two mixed up young boys, no proper guidance, no money and nobody to show them a decent road to go down. The same could be said about the other young boys that got mixed up in this mess. These kids were not involved with the Johnston gang for that long but Bruce Sr and co were movers and shakers who were fast paced, that's how they got away with it for so long, they'd commit crime after crime after crime and never miss a beat. Bruce Sr was a horrible influence and a very terrible and powerful man who had control over a lot of people. And how many more deaths were the Johnston gang really responsible for? 20 years of crime, how many people were silenced with threats and how many people were silenced for good? I guess that's part if the reason people still talk about this case at the time of me writing this post (2025).

RIP to Robin, Jimmy Johnston and the young boys who may have fallen into that life but who knows what could have happened once the Johnston gang were put behind bars, things may have changed for the better? we will never know but I still pay my respects, obviously first and foremost to young Robin.

Further Reading & Sources: 

- Bruce Johnston Sr | Wikipedia

- Jailing The Johnston Gang | Book by Bruce Mowday

- Interview With Dave Richter

- Johnston Court Documents | Justia US Law

- Robin Marie Miller | Find A Grave

- Chester County | Wikipedia

- Fremont Cemetery | Wikipedia

- At Close Range | IMDB 

As always, if you have made it this far in this post, I am so extremely grateful and appreciative for your time. As mentioned before, I love this movie and I can't go without mentioning the incredible song by the Queen herself, Madonna. 'Live To Tell' is a haunting musical masterpiece and even back then when it was put on the soundtrack to the film, Madonna was putting her foot down. At the time the makers of the movie wanted Madonna on the soundtrack as they believed it would be a good fit plus she was married to Sean Penn at the time. The studio would not allow it but Madonna took charge and actually wrote the lyrics on the spot and the song itself has a special place in people's hearts to this day. 

I hope you will join me inn my next post, in the meantime, I hope to see you on my socials 

Stay safe x 

*Please be aware that I will be sharing some disturbing details in this post and will be talking about s*icide, substance abuse, mental health issues, death and murder. I will, as always, try to be as sensitive as I can be without taking away from the facts of the individual cases* 

I'm sure many of us have watched the disturbing and hauntingly fascinating story (on Netflix) of the tragic death of Canadian student, Elisa Lam. If you haven't had the chance to watch it yet, I highly recommend you do. For those who are not familiar with Elisa's story, a few years ago a strange clip went viral on the internet of a young woman in an elevator acting quite strange. It appeared that the woman was in some sort of distress like she believed someone was following her. She would open and close the doors of the elevator  numerous times and was acting quite paranoid, almost as if she could see something that was not visible to us.

What was even more strange was that this very bright and popular young woman suddenly vanished into thin air not long after this incident. At the time she had been staying at The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, a place that had seen better days to put it politely. Rumours and theories went around, people knew that the hotel was very run down and the area (Skid Row) was infamous for crime, drugs, prostitution and homelessness, so some people believed she had been abducted or possibly had been experiencing some sort of bizarre paranormal event, but it wasn't long before the truth was soon to be known and it horrified and shocked everyone who had been looking into this case. 

The mystery of what had happened to Elisa came to a conclusion in one of the most unbelievable and utterly disturbing ways. The guests who had been staying in the Cecil hotel (some as tourists basically passing through and some were living there full time) had been complaining about how filthy the water was in the showers and from the taps (faucets), not only was the water discoloured, the smell was also disgusting. It's hard to believe that some people put up with this and continued to wash themselves using this water and actually boiled the water too as an attempt to drink it. Some of the people that lived in the hotel didn't have much money so they had no choice but to use this contaminated water. 

After something finally getting done about the water, an inspection of the water tank on the roof revealed a horrifying discovery. Elisa Lam had been found inside the tank, deceased and had been decomposing which was what had discoloured the water and created the horrific smell. This discovery was like something out of a horror movie, nobody could believe it and nobody could figure out how she had ended up in there. 

Rumours went wild again with some people believing she had been murdered and placed in there by the perpetrator. After an investigation it was reported by the authorities that Elisa had suffered from mental health problems and they believed that she had taken her own life. They claimed that the strange incidence in the elevator previously had been a psychotic episode due to Elisa not taking her medication. The whole situation was put down to being a very sad and tragic loss of a lovely young woman but a lot of people didn't believe this was the truth. To this day some people believe that there is more to the story and that Elisa was murdered. It's a case that continues to divide opinion. 

The shocking story of Elisa may have brought the world's attention to The Cecil Hotel but this wasn't the only shocking and disturbing event to have happened at the hotel. In fact, this hotel was infamous for being a hotel of horrors with a long history of suicides, mysterious deaths, crime and even serial killers who had lived at the hotel for some time, two of which you may be familiar with, Jack Unterweger and 'The Night Stalker' aka (who I have talked about a few times on this blog) Richard Ramirez. 

Richard Ramirez had been living at the hotel whilst he was actively carrying out some of his horrific murders. When he was finally caught for his despicable crimes (thanks to the determination and bravery of members of the public who had spotted him, grabbed him and held him until the police arrived) he had been living at the Cecil at the time. It was reported that on one occasion he had returned to the hotel after committing a sickening crime to which he was covered in blood and had removed his clothing outside of the hotel and dumped the items in a bin before casually walking into the hotel still with blood on him in front of onlookers but nobody said a word. 

To see someone looking dishevelled, covered in blood or high on drugs was nothing out of the ordinary at the Cecil, it was a regular occurrence. Jack Unterweger was an Austrian serial killer who ended up staying at the Cecil supposedly because he had heard that Richard Ramirez had stayed there previously and the location being so easy for access to sex workers who had been working the streets of Skid Row. Like Richard Ramirez, he was a combination of intelligence, evilness and sickness. He sexually assaulted and murdered numerous women who had been working as sex workers. It's unknown for sure how many women he did kill as he moved around quite a bit and there are cases that he has been linked to but remain unsolved. Authorities believe he has been responsible for 12 murders but possibly more. 

For the horrible crimes he was proven to have committed, he was found guilty of and sentenced to life imprisonment but on the very same night that he was to begin spending his evil life behind bars, he cowardly took his own life by hanging himself in 1994. His case is a whole roller coaster and if you are interested in me covering more of his story in depth please let me know. 

One of the sad facts about the Cecil Hotel was that way back in 1924 when it was first built, it really was quite an extraordinary building with beautiful decor. A lot of time, effort and money went into the creation of what was to be a place where successful people as well as tourists could stay, experience luxury and fantastic customer service. Sadly within two years it was all to fall apart as the great depression hit and that particular area of Los Angeles fell into a dramatic decline. All of a sudden homelessness was at an all time high, people lost their jobs, their homes and ended up on the street, turning to drugs to escape reality and working in prostitution to be able to eat. 

The area spilled into the hotel and the well-to-do guests were soon replaced with drug addicts, criminals, pimps and sex workers. The hotel's reputation continued to spiral in the local press with constant stories of suicides and crime connected to the hotel. On one occasion a woman jumped out of the window of her Cecil hotel room and had struck a man who had been walking along the pavement below, both of them died instantly. A 19 year old girl had been staying there with her boyfriend when she woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating stomach pains only to find that whilst she was in the bathroom, she was pregnant and about to deliver a baby. The girl gave birth and assumed the baby was deceased and (please scroll down further if you would like to avoid this horrific part) for some reason decided to throw the baby out of the hotel window and went back to bed. It was later revealed that the baby had indeed been alive at the time the poor child had been thrown out of the window and this girl was examined and deemed psychologically disturbed. She was placed in a mental health facility. 

There were numerous stories of people taking poison in the hotel rooms as well as various other methods of ending their lives. Some people who died in their rooms had been living there at the time and some people specifically went there to end their lives. 

For years the Cecil Hotel just continued on to be this place of horror and an attempt at a revamp and name change to 'Stay on The Main' did nothing to improve anything. Because of the significance of the building itself, it had been seen as a bit of a marvel when it had first been built and many believed that it was a very important part of American history and architecture. A lot of people didn't want to give up on it and so another revamp was planned in more recent years but during this process it had to be halted due to the Covid pandemic. 

A decision was finally made in 2024 that the building was just not going to cut it as a respectable hotel. The streets of Skid Row has sadly continued to be home to some of the most vulnerable people in America, crime continues and anyone who had thoughts of restoring the Cecil hotel to it's original glory realised that no money would be made to continue to have the building as a hotel. So it was again sold and the decision was made to turn the 14 floor building with it's 700 rooms, into an affordable housing complex. 

The building will never return to the glory of it's infancy but a lot of people still hold it close to their hearts despite the tragedies and dark history that continues to haunt it. I do think that it reflects a sign of hope in my opinion because they could have just demolished this beautiful building but instead they used this historical place to house vulnerable people who had nowhere else to go. That can only been seen as a positive thing. 

Los Angeles is a place like many others, it has it's good areas, it's beauty, it's success and it is often nicknamed 'The City of Angels', some people feel like their dreams have come true when they go there. For others it is a place of struggle, of hardship and hell. It's always heartbreaking when you see someone having to live on the street or struggle to buy food, 2025 you wonder how can it be possible, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I have given up with the government. Having worked with homeless people I know how easy it can be to find yourself out on the street because you can't afford to pay your bills. It could happen to any one of us. All we can do is pray and help where we can as it is hard in this day and age for all of us just trying to get by.

So, what are your thoughts about The Cecil Hotel? Please leave your comments below or email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

Further Reading & Sources:

- The Cecil Hotel: Article | LA Times

- Elisa Lam: Article | USA Today

- Richard Ramirez | Wikipedia

- Jack Unterweger: Article | Mubi

- The Cecil Hotel | Wikipedia

- Skid Row | Wikipedia

- The Cecil Hotel: Article | Discovery

- Behind The Door | Book by Amy Price

- American Hotel Story | Book by Richard Estep

- The Cecil Hotel | Book by Chris Swinney

RIP Elisa and to those who's lives have sadly ended due to personal struggle, murder and addiction. 

I hope you will join me in my next post and in the meantime, please stay safe, know that I appreciate your support and I hope to see you on my Socials x