People Who Just Disappear (Go Missing)

[escargot]

No, doesn't sound very good. But they may be able to provide some sort of closure for the family if he is no longer alive. I am sure it will be reported in the news eventually if the police investigation has proof of the young man's death/getting a conviction.

Poor boy was so young.

It would be nice to think he could be living somewhere under a new identity but how likely is it that he could avoid being discovered/found for this length of time? The poor family too.

The best outcome would be if young Mr Gosden were found (say) herding sheep on a remote Scottish island where he'd made his way after successfully escaping his captors in 2007. I'm holding out for that.

 

[Earthly oddity]

The best outcome would be if young Mr Gosden were found (say) herding sheep on a remote Scottish island where he'd made his way after successfully escaping his captors in 2007. I'm holding out for that.

Yes - the idea that he might have managed to escape would be a better outcome, I agree. How likely is it that he wouldn't contact his family or be discovered though? The people who prey on young and vulnerable people, I don't know how they can live with it on their conscience.

 

[escargot]

Yes - the idea that he might have managed to escape would be a better outcome, I agree. How likely is it that he wouldn't contact his family or be discovered though? The people who prey on young and vulnerable people, I don't know how they can live with it on their conscience.

Yup, sadly he's most likely long dead. I really do wish that wasn't the case but there's no evidence to the contrary like, as you say, being spotted or letting his family know he's alive.

However, there certainly are circumstances where people have been brainwashed and held in fear of talking to 'outsiders'. Cults can do that.
Until a body is found, there's faint hope.

 

[Carse]

The way I read it they hit him with the car then murdered him,
maybe started as a drink drive car accident and led to worse.
I think the idea that they then sold on the bike and it attracted
interest and led to investigation is likely.

A poster on Reddit who claims to have local connections (admittedly not a reliable source by any means) has stated that apparently the (ex?)girlfriend of one of the brothers went to the police with information after an argument. i guess we’ll find out soon enough when the trial starts.

 

[catseye]

Yup, sadly he's most likely long dead. I really do wish that wasn't the case but there's no evidence to the contrary like, as you say, being spotted or letting his family know he's alive.

However, there certainly are circumstances where people have been brainwashed and held in fear of talking to 'outsiders'. Cults can do that.
Until a body is found, there's faint hope.

Yes, there's hope. He could have been 'persuaded' that his family would reject him because of what had happened to him, and therefore not made contact. But I agree that it doesn't look good.

 

[Gizmos Mama]

https://news.sky.com/story/remains-...student-who-disappeared-45-years-ago-12490420

This post though, brings to mind these guys, (and others) on YouTube, who have recently found at least 11 missing people who ended up in cars in the water.

These guys do this on their own dime and time, with support of viewers.
It really is quite amazing what they have done for these families of those who did disappear without a trace, many who have been missing for decades.

https://www.youtube.com/c/AdventureswithPurpose

 

[Victory]

The Gosden case is very disturbing.

14 year old withdraws £200 from his bank account, travels on a one-way train ticket to London and disappears.
Supposedly he refused the offer from the ticket clerk to buy a return ticket despite it being a similar price.

Looking at the photos of him, he appears quite frail, and possibly Aspergers. He has that look.

So perhaps he was "groomed" online by someone claimign to share a special interest...a certain music group or hobby?

That would explain the journey to meet a stranger, but not the refusal to by a return ticket.

Or perhaps it was a fake love interest, an online profile pretending to be a woman, when in fact it was anything but?

 

[Carse]

The Gosden case is very disturbing.

14 year old withdraws £200 from hs bak account, travel on a one-way train ticket to London and disappears.
Supposedly he refused the offer from the ticket clerk to buy a return ticket despite it being a similar price.

Looking at the photos of him, he appears quite frail, and possibly Aspergers. He has that look.

So perhaps he was "groomed" online by someone claimign to share a special interest...a certain music group or hobby?

That would explain the journey to meet a stranger, but not the refusal to by a return ticket.

Or perhaps it was a fake love interest, an online profile pretending to be a woman when in fact it was anything but?

It’s a possibility but it was claimed by Andrew’s family, school and the police that he virtually never went on the internet and had no interest in it. His PSP was theoretically capable of accessing the internet but it has been suggested that Sony has no record of it ever connecting to their servers. The police didn’t act particularly quickly to secure CCTV or witness evidence so much vital information that could have pointed towards what happened was lost in the first few days.

I personally think the evidence (he had recently become even more withdrawn and changed his routine, was apparently disengaged with his school work, the withdrawn money, the single ticket etc..) points towards him having one day final day of personal enjoyment in London before a successful suicide attempt, probably by jumping into the Thames. Bullying? Sexuality issues? General growing pains? Who knows.

That all said, I have wondered in the past whether he met with someone in the city who did him harm or, indeed, whether he did attempt to travel home that day and ended up in trouble somewhere far from London. I think it is vanishingly unlikely that he is still alive.

 

[catseye]

It’s a possibility but it was claimed by Andrew’s family, school and the police that he virtually never went on the internet and had no interest in it. His PSP was theoretically capable of accessing the internet but it has been suggested that Sony has no record of it ever connecting to their servers. The police didn’t act particularly quickly to secure CCTV or witness evidence so much vital information that could have pointed towards what happened was lost in the first few days.

I personally think the evidence (he had recently become even more withdrawn and changed his routine, was apparently disengaged with his school work, the withdrawn money, the single ticket etc..) points towards him having one day final day of personal enjoyment in London before a successful suicide attempt, probably by jumping into the Thames. Bullying? Sexuality issues? General growing pains? Who knows.

That all said, I have wondered in the past whether he met with someone in the city who did him harm or, indeed, whether he did attempt to travel home that day and ended up in trouble somewhere far from London. I think it is vanishingly unlikely that he is still alive.

There is quite a compelling argument for Andrew having bought a one way ticket to London simply because he didn't know EXACTLY when he was returning and he (being on the spectrum and quite inexperienced at travelling alone) didn't realise that he could have bought an open return cheaper than two one way tickets. Also, he had family living in London, so he may have intended to visit them.

So the fact of the one way ticket, and the travelling may have been symptomatic of a young lad, bullied, excluded from friendships and perhaps starting to feel depressed, deciding to do something simply to prove to himself that he could. It's what happened to him when he got where he was going that's the mystery, for me.

 

[Kondoru]

Sadly he doesnt seem to be the sort of person folk worry about.

Theres a lot of CCTV in London (and on the train) hasnt anyone traced his steps?

 

[Carse]

Yes, indeed. I’ve seen it suggested that the reason he turned down a return ticket when he was asked was simply because he hadn’t thought that far ahead and was blindsided by the question, and I can relate to that a bit because it’s something I can imagine myself doing. Especially if he was on the autistic spectrum (and I’ve never seen it confirmed that he was) he may have struggled with the conversation with the booking clerk not going exactly how he had planned it in his head. Alternately may not have understood what the clerk meant for whatever reason. Also he was entirely deaf in one ear, so it’s possible that he didn’t hear the question correctly.

His grandparents lived in Sidcup and it has also been suggested that he may have intended to stay with them. There was a witness who claimed seeing a young looking teenager sleeping on a bench in a park in South London early one morning but that was about a week after he arrived in the city, and it was recounted to the police quite a few months later.

To be honest I change my mind about the disappearance every few weeks... One theory I’ve toyed with is that he did actually try to return home that night and either came to harm in Doncaster or got on the wrong train (services on the East Coast Main Line have different stopping patterns) and ended up stranded in Peterborough or York late at night. After that, again, who knows.

 

[Carse]

Sadly he doesnt seem to be the sort of person folk worry about.

Theres a lot of CCTV in London (and on the train) hasnt anyone traced his steps?

It always strikes me how much younger he looks than his 14 years. This is one reason why I struggle with the idea of him starting a secret life in the city. London is very big but I think it would be difficult for an unaccompanied teenager who looks about 11 or 12 to go entirely under the radar of the public authorities for the first few months, especially with the publicity around his disappearance.

For whatever reason the police didn‘t start looking at CCTV until about three weeks after he disappeared and as a result very little trace of him was actually found. The case also fell into a bit of a bureaucratic gap between South Yorkshire Police and the British Transport Police, who were responsible for sourcing the CCTV from the train and Kings Cross station. Some shots from Kings Cross have been released publicly and I’ve seen it suggested online that there may also be footage of him from on board the train. After he left Kings Cross there was one credible eyewitness sighting of him in London that day, eating at a Pizzahut restaurant on Oxford Street but no CCTV of this has been released (if it even exists).

 

[Earthly oddity]

It always strikes me how much younger he looks than his 14 years. This is one reason why I struggle with the idea of him starting a secret life in the city. London is very big but I think it would be difficult for an unaccompanied teenager who looks about 11 or 12 to go entirely under the radar of the public authorities for the first few months, especially with the publicity around his disappearance.

For whatever reason the police didn‘t start looking at CCTV until about three weeks after he disappeared and as a result very little trace of him was actually found. The case also fell into a bit of a bureaucratic gap between South Yorkshire Police and the British Transport Police, who were responsible for sourcing the CCTV from the train and Kings Cross station. Some shots from Kings Cross have been released publicly and I’ve seen it suggested online that there may also be footage of him from on board the train. After he left Kings Cross there was one credible eyewitness sighting of him in London that day, eating at a Pizzahut restaurant on Oxford Street but no CCTV of this has been released (if it even exists).

He definitely looks very young for his age and of a small build/stature in the photos on the posters/the CCTV images. I think that is why the case of his disappearance has haunted me.

The case of Claudia Lawrence has haunted me too - and the way certain ideas about her were perpetuated in the media was really awful.

The idea that people might come to harm and those responsible are still free is disturbing.

 

[Kondoru]

No, someone would take note of a person that young out on his own late at night, surely?

 

[Victory]

No, someone would take note of a person that young out on his own late at night, surely?

Not in central London..

He looks young, but could easily be assumed he was on his way home from a gig etc.

 

[catseye]

Yes, indeed. I’ve seen it suggested that the reason he turned down a return ticket when he was asked was simply because he hadn’t thought that far ahead and was blindsided by the question, and I can relate to that a bit because it’s something I can imagine myself doing. Especially if he was on the autistic spectrum (and I’ve never seen it confirmed that he was) he may have struggled with the conversation with the booking clerk not going exactly how he had planned it in his head. Alternately may not have understood what the clerk meant for whatever reason. Also he was entirely deaf in one ear, so it’s possible that he didn’t hear the question correctly.

His grandparents lived in Sidcup and it has also been suggested that he may have intended to stay with them. There was a witness who claimed seeing a young looking teenager sleeping on a bench in a park in South London early one morning but that was about a week after he arrived in the city, and it was recounted to the police quite a few months later.

To be honest I change my mind about the disappearance every few weeks... One theory I’ve toyed with is that he did actually try to return home that night and either came to harm in Doncaster or got on the wrong train (services on the East Coast Main Line have different stopping patterns) and ended up stranded in Peterborough or York late at night. After that, again, who knows.

Liek you, I've wibbled back and forth on this one on a daily basis. At first I thought suicide, but it seems a very elaborate and pre-planned thing, when he could easily have vanished in his locality to die. He was just at the age at which mental health conditions can really start to show themselves, and being a lonely type, he may not have wanted to or been able to tell anyone just what was going on in his head. Everyone sees him starting to walk home rather than take the school bus as 'obvious signs of grooming', but he was being bullied. The last thing he would want was to be trapped on a school bus with bullies (drivers and prefects etc who are supposed to keep an eye out, really really don't. They just want to get where they're going and behaviour on school buses can be truly atrocious).

 

[Carse]

Really the only popular theory I think is almost certainly wrong is that he was secretly in communication with someone and that he went to London to meet with them. I know teenagers can be very good at keeping secrets (and I can think back to some of the stuff I got up to in my teens that my parents still have no inkling about) but it just doesn’t strike me as being likely. He would have had to go to very elaborate lengths to cover up an online relationship with someone.

I agree he was probably being bullied at school, on the bus or both. Even so called ‘low level’ bullying can have a terrible effect at such a tricky time of life as your early teens. I was subject to petty bullying by some of my classmates when I was 12/13 in my first year of secondary school; I wasn’t beaten up or anything physical like that but I was ostracised, called names, generally ignored, made to feel different and it was really horrible. I just felt like shit all the time. My parents knew nothing about it (because I didn’t tell them) and if the teachers were aware, they must have just looked the other way. If I had disappeared when I was 13 my family would have told the police that I was quite happy and there was no chance I was being bullied by anyone, but my reality was different. It died out in the second year once everyone, me included, had matured a little bit and I went on to have a decent enough time at school. However I can understand how even if Andrew wasn’t being beaten up for his lunch money every day, he could still be having a really unpleasant time at school and be looking for a way of escaping his situation.

At the moment I favour a day-out-followed-by-suicide theory, and I think that the changes in his behaviour and routine over the summer and the start of the school term point that way. I also wonder if going to London rather than doing it closer to home was an attempt to shield his family from the trauma of finding his body etc... little realising that the sheer abruptness of his just vanishing off the face of the earth would have a similar effect on them.

He was just at the age at which mental health conditions can really start to show themselves, and being a lonely type, he may not have wanted to or been able to tell anyone just what was going on in his head.

I hadn’t really thought much about mental health conditions in relation to Andrew before, but it’s a very interesting point you raise. In particular schizophrenia can manifest in males in their mid-teens; I wonder if rather than being planned, his trip to London could actually have been the result of an episode of psychosis? It may perhaps explain some of the apparent inconsistencies such as leaving his PSP charger at home but not buying a return ticket.

 

[escargot]

This interested me; seen on Wikipedia and mentioned elsewhere -

During the 2006 summer holidays Gosden attended a two-week residential school at Lancaster University as part of the Young Gifted and Talented Programme.

The summer school was for children from all over the UK aged 11–16 who were in the top 5% academically.

Gosden's parents recalled that he returned from the summer school being uncharacteristically enthused about what he had been doing there.

(Have to say that I wouldn't have sent any of my kids off where they didn't know anyone for a fortnight at that age. But that's just me.)

Can't remember where, but I've read that one of the reasons the Young Gifted and Talented Programme was abandoned was to do with concerns about inadequate safeguarding. Dunno, could be rubbish.

However, some believe that Gosden met someone there who had might be implicated in his disappearance.

Gosden had been given a mobile phone which he promptly lost. It's crossed my mind that if it wasn't lost and that he actually hid it, that's how he might have been in touch with an abuser.
Again, just my thoughts. One would assume that after his disappearance it had been routinely tracked through the company's records as in the Soham case.

Or he could have been given a new phone that was kept topped up by an abuser. If he'd kept it secret nobody would know.

Why would he do this? He'd been abused/brainwashed/compromised/scared out of his wits/groomed at the residential school and felt unable or unwilling to tell anyone. All this can be done to kids with frightening ease by a skilled abuser.

So that's what I think: a. he was groomed, possibly at the residential school, and b. he had a secret phone.

But what do I know?

I really do hope everyone is wrong and he resurfaces somewhere safe.
We hear now and then about people who are trafficked as forced labour and end up in another country, disorientated and afraid to speak to anyone they don't know. It's surely possible for this to happen to a former abductee.

 

[Earthly oddity]

This interested me; seen on Wikipedia and mentioned elsewhere -



(Have to say that I wouldn't have sent any of my kids off where they didn't know anyone for a fortnight at that age. But that's just me.)

Can't remember where, but I've read that one of the reasons the Young Gifted and Talented Programme was abandoned was to do with concerns about inadequate safeguarding. Dunno, could be rubbish.

However, some believe that Gosden met someone there who had might be implicated in his disappearance.

Gosden had been given a mobile phone which he promptly lost. It's crossed my mind that if it wasn't lost and that he actually hid it, that's how he might have been in touch with an abuser.
Again, just my thoughts. One would assume that after his disappearance it had been routinely tracked through the company's records as in the Soham case.

Or he could have been given a new phone that was kept topped up by an abuser. If he'd kept it secret nobody would know.

Why would he do this? He'd been abused/brainwashed/compromised/scared out of his wits/groomed at the residential school and felt unable or unwilling to tell anyone. All this can be done to kids with frightening ease by a skilled abuser.

So that's what I think: a. he was groomed, possibly at the residential school, and b. he had a secret phone.

But what do I know?

I really do hope everyone is wrong and he resurfaces somewhere safe.
We hear now and then about people who are trafficked as forced labour and end up in another country, disorientated and afraid to speak to anyone they don't know. It's surely possible for this to happen to a former abductee.

I had forgotten the detail of the residential summer school - but it interested me at the time. I think parents allowing a child to go on a residential school as part of that scheme would expect any staff associated with it etc to be safe/responsible adults. It might be that there wasn't adequate vetting of the providers of the activities in reality. Unfortunately it often takes an accident or a crime to show how inadequate care can be.

At that age I would have loved to have gone away for a fortnight. I did go on a few (faith based) "camps" in the summer myself from a young age but they were usually only about a week long. They were in boarding schools, hostels and the like and supervised by adults.

The worst thing I experienced was actually on a school trip abroad when I was about 12 or 13. Was left stranded because the teachers failed to count the students and realise myself/my pal were not on the coach. We had seen it drive off without us and were waving at it furiously to stop. One teacher refused to turn the coach back to pick us up. So it took everyone back before coming to pick us up. That teacher was awful. The rest of them were just relieved we had come to no harm. It was early 80s, I don't think they would do that now.

 

[escargot]

I had forgotten the detail of the residential summer school - but it interested me at the time. I think parents allowing a child to go on a residential school as part of that scheme would expect any staff associated with it etc to be safe/responsible adults. It might be that there wasn't adequate vetting of the providers of the activities in reality. Unfortunately it often takes an accident or a crime to show how inadequate care can be.

At that age I would have loved to have gone away for a fortnight. I did go on a few (faith based) "camps" in the summer myself from a young age but they were usually only about a week long. They were in boarding schools, hostels and the like and supervised by adults.

The worst thing I experienced was actually on a school trip abroad when I was about 12 or 13. Was left stranded because the teachers failed to count the students and realise myself/my pal were not on the coach. We had seen it drive off without us and were waving at it furiously to stop. One teacher refused to turn the coach back to pick us up. So it took everyone back before coming to pick us up. That teacher was awful. The rest of them were just relieved we had come to no harm. It was early 80s, I don't think they would do that now.

Yup, you'd expect kids to be safe but they might not have been, and a fortnight is a long time.

Your mention of a coach mishap reminds me of being assaulted by a teacher on one.
On a residential trip, aged nearly 11, I had to go back to the coach for my coat or summat and the teacher who escorted me pushed me down on my back and pressed against me, panting. It stopped when he abruptly stood up and walked off.

I had absolutely no idea what he was up to and no words to describe it, and wouldn't have dared to talk about it to an adult because, for the reasons mentioned, I thought I'd be accused of lying.
Asking around on school pages in the last few years I've found that he was well dodgy and I was lucky to have got away with my drawers on.
Hence my caution.

You and your mate might have come to terrible harm while you waited for the coach to come back. All the staff on it should have been sacked for leaving you.

If that had happened to one of my kids there'd have been fireworks. 'Fucking BALLISTIC' wouldn't TOUCH it.
My eldest is 10 years younger than you. As you say, different times.

 

[Carse]

This interested me; seen on Wikipedia and mentioned elsewhere -



(Have to say that I wouldn't have sent any of my kids off where they didn't know anyone for a fortnight at that age. But that's just me.)

Can't remember where, but I've read that one of the reasons the Young Gifted and Talented Programme was abandoned was to do with concerns about inadequate safeguarding. Dunno, could be rubbish.

However, some believe that Gosden met someone there who had might be implicated in his disappearance.

Gosden had been given a mobile phone which he promptly lost. It's crossed my mind that if it wasn't lost and that he actually hid it, that's how he might have been in touch with an abuser.
Again, just my thoughts. One would assume that after his disappearance it had been routinely tracked through the company's records as in the Soham case.

Or he could have been given a new phone that was kept topped up by an abuser. If he'd kept it secret nobody would know.

Why would he do this? He'd been abused/brainwashed/compromised/scared out of his wits/groomed at the residential school and felt unable or unwilling to tell anyone. All this can be done to kids with frightening ease by a skilled abuser.

So that's what I think: a. he was groomed, possibly at the residential school, and b. he had a secret phone.

But what do I know?

I really do hope everyone is wrong and he resurfaces somewhere safe.
We hear now and then about people who are trafficked as forced labour and end up in another country, disorientated and afraid to speak to anyone they don't know. It's surely possible for this to happen to a former abductee.

Excellent points and all very possible. All that would be needed is a replacement pay-as-you-go sim card for the ‘lost’ phone and unless the police had a record of the IMEI number of the handset (which is, I think, unlikely) they would never be able to trace it.

If he was being groomed I’d wager it is more likely to have come about through the Gifted & Talented program in the way you say than through the internet. Especially as the family didn’t have broadband in the house (though I haven’t ever seen any confirmation of whether they had dialup internet access) and the only computer was Andrew’s sister’s laptop which she had only got that summer.

 

[Earthly oddity]

Yup, you'd expect kids to be safe but they might not have been, and a fortnight is a long time.

Your mention of a coach mishap reminds me of being assaulted by a teacher on one.
On a residential trip, aged nearly 11, I had to go back to the coach for my coat or summat and the teacher who escorted me pushed me down on my back and pressed against me, panting. It stopped when he abruptly stood up and walked off.

I had absolutely no idea what he was up to and no words to describe it, and wouldn't have dared to talk about it to an adult because, for the reasons mentioned, I thought I'd be accused of lying.
Asking around on school pages in the last few years I've found that he was well dodgy and I was lucky to have got away with my drawers on.
Hence my caution.

You and your mate might have come to terrible harm while you waited for the coach to come back. All the staff on it should have been sacked for leaving you.

If that had happened to one of my kids there'd have been fireworks. 'Fucking BALLISTIC' wouldn't TOUCH it.
My eldest is 10 years younger than you. As you say, different times.

That thing that you describe is awful. Sorry to hear that you experienced that.

I never told my parents when I got back from the trip. I was ashamed of being left behind. I think children/teenagers often take the blame for things they shouldn't - and some adults shift the blame onto them too.

Unfortunately some parents aren't assertive enough when they need to be. I doubt my mother would have had the courage to complain strongly enough, even if I had told her at the time.

The teacher responsible was horrible to me and others throughout our time in school.

Thankfully I didn't experience the sort of abuse you describe though.

I did wonder at the time I heard about the camp whether it was a significant detail. Maybe the police know more than they have made publicly known.

I always wonder about things the police might know (but not disclose publicly) about in cases that remain unsolved - they may just need more evidence, but they can't disclose too much publicly.....they may be waiting on someone to come forward with information or for some evidence that helps them to establish the connections and have a strong/legal case.

 

[escargot]

The teacher responsible was horrible to me and others throughout our time in school.

That's grooming, strangely enough. It's like the 'negging' technique that men use on women to 'undermine their confidence and increase their need of the manipulator's approval', as described on the Wikipedia page about it. Emotional abuse, highly manipulative. Works well on vulnerable people.

You're so right about the police not releasing all the details about a case. The press usually co-operate well in this on the promise of a scoop later.
There might indeed be a phone somewhere, either a new one or, as you suggest, Gosden's own with a new SIM.

 

[catseye]

I had forgotten the detail of the residential summer school - but it interested me at the time. I think parents allowing a child to go on a residential school as part of that scheme would expect any staff associated with it etc to be safe/responsible adults. It might be that there wasn't adequate vetting of the providers of the activities in reality. Unfortunately it often takes an accident or a crime to show how inadequate care can be.

At that age I would have loved to have gone away for a fortnight. I did go on a few (faith based) "camps" in the summer myself from a young age but they were usually only about a week long. They were in boarding schools, hostels and the like and supervised by adults.

The worst thing I experienced was actually on a school trip abroad when I was about 12 or 13. Was left stranded because the teachers failed to count the students and realise myself/my pal were not on the coach. We had seen it drive off without us and were waving at it furiously to stop. One teacher refused to turn the coach back to pick us up. So it took everyone back before coming to pick us up. That teacher was awful. The rest of them were just relieved we had come to no harm. It was early 80s, I don't think they would do that now.

I read him being 'uncharacteristically enthused' about the maths camp because maybe he'd been excellent at it and had been happy that he'd found something he was really good at and maybe he'd had his esteem boosted for maybe the first time in his life.

 

[Victory]

I did not know he had been to a summer camp, but it seems the logical place to start investigating if he had met someone there who lived in London, or had moved to London since the camp.

Or, it could have been that someone there had suggested a day out to London, meeting at predetermined time and place then taken him to a property they had rented in London or owned by a third party.

 

[Kondoru]

Its a shame as smart kids need more support.

 

[maximus otter]

Re Andrew Gosden:

“Two men, aged 38 and 45, were arrested on suspicion of kidnap and human trafficking in London. Both have since been released under investigation.

The older man was also arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children…”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-59952786

“Numerous devices were seized from two men arrested in the case of a teenager who went missing 14 years ago.

Police investigating the disappearance of Andrew Godsen took the electronics as the pair were held on suspicion of kidnap and human trafficking.

Officers said the devices could take "six to 12 months" to analyse.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-59964588

maximus otter

 

[escargot]

That thing that you describe is awful. Sorry to hear that you experienced that.

I never told my parents when I got back from the trip. I was ashamed of being left behind. I think children/teenagers often take the blame for things they shouldn't - and some adults shift the blame onto them too.

Yup, by sheer good luck neither of us came to any real harm and we both learned a lesson.
I resolved never to be alone with an adult outside my family again and I imagine you somewhat upped your timekeeping game.

But did we turn to adults for support? We did not. This is entirely typical of how kids deal with abuse and neglect.

 

[Earthly oddity]

Yup, by sheer good luck neither of us came to any real harm and we both learned a lesson.
I resolved never to be alone with an adult outside my family again and I imagine you somewhat upped your timekeeping game.

But did we turn to adults for support? We did not. This is entirely typical of how kids deal with abuse and neglect.

I learnt to put the shopping down and walk out of the shop if the person on the till took too long......
And I am less patient now that I am getting older too.

I learnt that telling my mother things and expecting her to speak up/stand up for me/on my behalf was unrealistic long before that happened. My mother loves me, she was just never able to do that. It was always made out to be that she couldn't do it because I had done something wrong/wasn't perfect, but if I had been perfect she would have felt able to complain.....
I think she would have liked me to be someone who did everything right and drew no attention to themselves/her.....(obviously she has some baggage....)

Anyway - back to people who go missing....

 

[NomDeGuerre]

I used to follow the Andrew Gosden case quite closely, but it wasn't until today that I read there'd be an update.

I'm of a similar age to Andrew and I can well imagine he didn't have a mobile phone, use the internet much or have a social media profile. The latter was very much in its nascency when he vanished, so it's feasible he didn't have any presence online.

There are so many frustrating aspects to the case. The fact CCTV wasn't reviewed in the weeks proceeding his disappearance leaves us with the famous footage of him leaving Kings Cross and little else; he'd surely have been picked up by the cameras in the streets surrounding the station, wouldn't he?

I also recall reading that somebody who claimed to have information pertaining to the case approached the police in the months following the disappearance, but was told by the station to return the next day when a relevant officer would be available to talk. The person, as far as I can remember, didn't ever return and has not been traced.