The mysterious disappearance of Andrew Gosden

In short
On 14 September 2007 Andrew Gosden, 14, from Doncaster, skipped school, took a one-way train to London and was last caught on camera at King’s Cross station. He has never been found. In 2021 two men were arrested on suspicion of kidnap and human trafficking, but in 2023 they were cleared.

On 14 September 2007 Andrew Gosden, a 14-year-old English boy from Doncaster, skipped school and bought a one-way ticket to London. Nothing has been heard of him since.

The disappearance of Andrew Gosden

Andrew’s mother remembers that on the morning of 14 September 2007 he had breakfast as usual and then left for school. A normal day, like so many others.

What she did not know, though, was that Andrew never went to school that day: he waited for his parents and sister to leave and then went back home. He took off his school uniform, put on a Slipknot T-shirt and went to buy a one-way ticket to London.

He took only the clothes he was wearing, £200 he had withdrawn from his account, and his PSP, without the charger. From that moment nobody has seen him again.

The discovery and the investigation

His parents found out that same evening. Back from work, they saw their son was not in his room. They called Andrew’s friends, who had no news, and then the school, which told them their son had not turned up to class that morning.

The alarm was raised immediately and the search began, but without results.

The boy’s room was searched, and it was during the search that officers noticed he had left his PSP charger at home. There was also about £100 in his room (Christmas and birthday presents) that he had decided not to take with him. Nothing was found on his computer, nothing that could give a clue as to where he might be.

The last images of the boy are from King’s Cross station in London, where Andrew got off the train at around 11:20 on the day he disappeared. Police requested CCTV footage from around the station, but unfortunately the request came too late. The footage had already been deleted.

Theories

Andrew Gosden was a very bright boy, so good at maths that he won national competitions. He was reserved but cheerful, with no apparent problems.

One of his favourite programmes was about a man who faked his own death to start a new life from scratch, and some believe that is what Andrew wanted to do: start over. However, it seems unlikely that a 14-year-old boy, alone, with only £200 and no change of clothes, could have built himself a new life.

The idea that he meant to take his own life has also been ruled out, not only because he did not seem a young person at risk, but also because after going home to change he had hung his blazer on a chair and put his uniform in the washing machine. Things he always did, like saying goodbye to his parents with a “see you later”. Normal gestures, from an ordinary day.

Another theory, the most terrible, is that he may have been in contact with people who persuaded him to go to London with some excuse in order to take advantage of him. Nothing useful was found on his PC, but perhaps he had chatted with someone through his PSP.

The boy has a distinguishing mark. His right ear has a fold in the outer ear that could make him recognisable even if he had changed his name and appearance.

To this day, however, there is no news of Andrew. Nobody seems to have seen him again, but his parents have not lost hope.

Update: the 2021 arrests

For years the family kept searching: Andrew’s face appeared on posters, buses and even milk cartons, and in 2019 his father, Kevin, released images produced by experts showing what he might look like as an adult.

On 8 December 2021 South Yorkshire Police, working with London’s Metropolitan Police, arrested two men from London, aged 45 and 38, on suspicion of kidnap and human trafficking. The older man was also suspected of possessing indecent images of children. The arrests were only made public in January 2022, and Andrew’s father said he had been unable to sleep for days, not knowing what to think.

Both were released under investigation and, in September 2023, police announced they had been eliminated from the inquiry. The case was back to square one.

Today Andrew would be over 30. If you think you have any information, you can contact South Yorkshire Police or the family through its official channels.

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