Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

Somebody Out There Knows The Truth! Where is Andrew Gosden?

(Andrew Gosden. Picture credit: Mirror)

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 Gosden Information Poster. Poster credit: Missing People)

So the backstory to all of this? Well, the night before the 14th of September 2007 (which is the day that Andrew went missing) the family had dinner as usual at home. Andrew was his usual self, there was no arguments or anything going on with school or outside of school that his parents were aware of. Andrew was known for being very talented and gifted academically, he had spent some time the previous summer at a residential school for gifted students at Lancaster University. He was a natural at mathematics and constantly shone in his school work. His teachers described him as smart, quiet and quite mature for his age. Despite having intelligence in spades, Andrew was no nerd, his taste in music was quite impressive too, he was into rock and heavy metal and was quite the gamer too. He was growing into a metalhead and could often been seen dressed in black with various rock and metal t-shirts. Before he disappeared he told his parents that he wanted to dye his hair jet black. 

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. 

(Last known sighting of Andrew Gosden. Picture credit: South Yorkshire Police)

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. 


I have included various links below to interviews with his parents, as well as their official website for Andrew and Missing Persons. All details on how to contact his parents and authorities are listed on the information poster and the sites I have included:

- 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

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Stay safe until next time x 

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''He Filmed His Victims After He Drugged Them'' | The Horror on Cooke Street | Serial Killer: Stephen Port

(Stephen Port. Picture credit: BBC News)

*Please be aware that I will be sharing details in this post which are quite disturbing. Themes such as date-ra*e, s*xual assault, s*icide and Murder will be discussed. I, as always, aim to be as sensitive as I can with the facts without taking away from the details of the case*

When we think of infamous serial killers, a lot of the time the usual names come to the front of our minds, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer , Fred And Rose West, and John Wayne Gacy amongst others. I've written about so many serial murderers over the years and the stories of the past still come back to haunt us, new books are written, movies are made and documentaries pop up on Netflix which bring new found attention to these shocking cases from history that we should never forget. And then there's the shocking stories that don't get as much attention but are equally just as terrifying, stories such as the case of English serial killer Stephen Port. 

What Ted, Jeffrey, Fred, Rose and John had in common was their ability to fool people, they had a level of charisma that enabled them to gain people's trust and display an appearance of 'normality'. With Stephen Port all you had to do was look at him to see that there was something just not right with this man. I know they say you should never judge a book by it's cover but Stephen had a look of evil and creepiness that is hard to describe and I cannot be blamed for my judgment in this case, as he turned out to be even worse that any of us could've imagined.

His disturbing crimes happened not that long ago and as well as the case being horrific, the attitude of the police is again called into question in response to how they failed to investigate this case, how they ignored vital information and the disrespect to the victims and their families. We like to think that in more recent times that things have changed for the better and that's not always the case. Since this case became more wider known in the public arena, the Met police have claimed that they have trained their officers in how to deal with future cases as well as how to deal with potential and crucial information in a more respectful and timely matter....but that remains to be seen. 

So let's get into the case...

Stephen Port was born in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England on the 22nd of February 1975. He was known to be a loner at school and wasn't quite sure as he got older what type of profession he wanted to go into. At first he enrolled in an art course but decided that he wanted to be a chef. Eventually he managed to get a job as a chef at a bus depot. In his private life, Stephen was still very much a loner and would take drugs as well as alcohol from time to time. He was homosexual and would have various sexual encounters with men who he preferred to be young (in his words 'under the age of 30' and 'Twinks' which is slang for 'young boys who are attractive and of slim build'). The boys would usually be in their 20s and he would often pay them for their time, hiring young escorts was nothing new to him. 

As well as being a man in his 40s who had a penchant for younger men, his taste for pornography was quite disturbing, echoing Jeffrey Dahmer, he enjoyed the idea of young men being drugged and unconscious as he did what he wanted with their bodies. This quickly switched from being his favourite type of 'porn' to watch, to being something that he desired to try for real. Stephen signed up to what seemed like every online gay dating site going. For someone who was a loner and not that great a conversationalist he sure had a lot of confidence when it came to meeting strangers off of the internet for sexual encounters and had no issues using his own photographs on his profiles despite looking like an odd character. His favourite sites to use were 'Fitlads', 'Sleepyboy', 'Bender' and the more known 'Grindr' (hence why he is often nicknamed 'The Grindr' Killer) 

As I always have said in previous posts relating to serial killers, there's often the victims we know about and then there's always the possibility that there are more out there who have yet to be identified. There are files upon files stacked up in boxes on shelves of every police Department you can think of that has unsolved cases going back decades, how many of them are victims of serial killers that have not yet been realised? It's a very chilling thought. 

With Stephen Port's crimes being brought to light in his 40's (his first murder was reported to have been committed when he was 39) and considering his sexual drive for controlling younger men, it's hard to believe that all of this just started as soon as he reached this part of his life. His first known victim was 23 year old student, Anthony Walgate who he had connected with via one of the dating sites. Anthony had told friends beforehand that he was going to meet Stephen in Barking, East London and gave a few details of where he was going as he told them in a joking manner ''In case I get killed''. Sadly this joke was to become a horrible reality because the young man had been found collapsed on Cooke Street where Stephen had lived after a anonymous phone call to authorities which Stephen had placed himself. When everyone arrived the young man was deceased. The investigation into Anthony's death was a mess, an autopsy was deemed inconclusive although they did determine that drugs had been a major factor. As for the strange bruises on his body, they couldn't decide if they had been the result of physical abuse or as a result of 'Hypostasis' which is when the blood stops pumping and pools in lower areas of the body. 

The police managed to trace the anonymous call back to Stephen Port and despite him having a reputation for physical abuse as well as drugging and sexually assaulting men in the past (he was never charged and did not have a criminal record at this point), the police charged him with perverting the course of justice and Stephen served a very short stint in jail. 

His second known victim was 22 year old student, Gabriel Kovari whom he also met through an online dating site. Gabriel was originally from Slovakia and had been renting a spare room from a man named John who he became very good friends with (John would later become instrumental in the eventual bringing of Stephen Port to justice). Despite enjoying living with John, Stephen had managed to persuade Gabriel (possibly with the offer of not having to pay any rent one wonders?) to move in with him. Gabriel announced out of the blue that he was moving out but promised to stay in contact with John. John was shocked and saddened to see Gabriel go and didn't want to ask too many questions about where he was going, all he knew was that Gabriel seemed to be happy about this situation. 

Gabriel had been gone for barely a week when John noticed that he'd not been returning his calls or text messages, he hadn't been online either. The sad and shocking news was soon realised when the police arrived at John's door to inform him that Gabriel had been found dead. He was discovered slumped in a graveyard by a woman out walking her dog. All signs pointed to an overdose as the police found a bottle which they had also found on Anthony Walgate's body previously. The graveyard was not that far away from Stephen's home and after further investigation it was declared that Gabriel also died from what appeared to be a drug overdose. Both Anthony and Gabriel had dangerously high levels of the date-rape drug GHB in their systems at time of death. 

John didn't feel comfortable with how the police were responding to the case and felt that something was not quite right. He began doing his own research online and discovered some very shocking details. He was able to discover connections and also spoke to Gabriel's former boyfriend who told him that he'd been informed about a gang of older men who would target young homosexual men, give them a cocktail of drugs and sexually assault them at parties.

John went to the police will all of this information and was turned away as far as they were concerned, this was not a suspicious death. 

On the 20th of September 2014, the very same lady who had previously found Gabriel, had found another deceased young man slumped up against the wall in the same graveyard. Daniel Whitworth was a chef and just 21 when he arranged to meet Stephen Port online on a dating site. Daniel was already in a long-term relationship at this time. Daniel was found in the exact same position as Gabriel but this time a suicide letter was found. In this suicide note which was described by his family and friends as being 'cold' and nothing like him at all, Daniel was supposed to have said that he had been responsible for Gabriel's death and not to blame the man he had slept with the night before. Suddenly those closest to the boys became interested in who this man was and also began their independent investigating. 

The last known murder was said to be that of 25 year old Jack Taylor who had also been found slumped over against the wall in the graveyard, exactly the same way as Daniel and Gabriel had been found. There was no disguising the fact now that a serial killer was on the loose and it's shocking that the police continued to ignore everything that friends and families of the boys were trying to tell them. 

Gabriel's friend John had even contacted some of the local LGBT support groups to see if they could get word through to the police as he was getting nowhere with them but it was the same result. The police believed there was no foul play. 

Again in this case we see the benefit of CCTV cameras in helping solve a case because it was by sheer chance that Stephen Port and Jack had been captured on camera during their meeting at the train station. Now the police decided to do their jobs and brought Stephen in for questioning, the evidence was overwhelming and finally he was put behind bars. Stephen Port has never shown any remorse for what he has done. He was given a whole life order meaning that he will never leave prison. As well as the four murders of the young boys that we know about, Stephen was also found guilty of sexually assaulting, violently physically assaulting and drugging various other young men who fortunately lived to tell the tale but are no doubt traumatised by what he put them through. 

The terrifying list of drugs that Stephen Port used on his victims are as follows Crystal Meth, GHB & GHL (which is liquid Ecstasy), Amyl Nitrate (street name: Poppers), Viagra and Meow Meow (Which is Mephedrone which produces effects that are similar to that of Cocaine and MDMA). 

Stephen Port was a dangerous predator with a history of violence and sexual abuse towards men, he should have been locked up a long time ago. Sheer ignorance and homophobia were at the forefront of this case by inexperienced and judgemental police officers and this was in 2014, not 1950. The police appeared to have the same attitude towards the gay community that they had with sex workers. Anthony Walgate, who was reported to be Stephen's first victim would sometimes do escort work as a struggling student, could this also be a factor in the lack of proper investigation by the police? As I mentioned earlier, the police have claimed that they have since partaken in more training and are now more open minded as well as more serious about such matters and their approach to any future cases, let's hope so. 

RIP to Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth, Jack Taylor and any other possible victims who are yet to be identified. Also thinking of the numerous survivors of Stephen Port and the families of victims and survivors. A special thanks also to the incredible friends and family members as well as people in the LGBT community who tried their best to get through to the police and bring justice to the victims and their families. 

(From left: Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Jack Taylor, Daniel Whitworth. Picture credit: BBC News)


Further Reading & Sources:


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