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
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
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