On 13th September 2007 Andrew (14) left home for school in Doncaster. As he’d overslept he rushed around getting ready. But Andrew never made it into school that Friday. Instead, he walked to the local park and waited for his parents Kevin and Glenys to leave the house for work. He then let himself back into the house and calmly changed out of his school uniform.
Placing his blazer and tie on the back of a chair in his bedroom, he put his trousers and shirt into the washing machine and changed into his ‘goth’ clothes. He went to the local garage at the end of the road and withdrew £200 cash from the machine (his account had £217.00).
He then went to the railway station where he bought a one way ticket to London and boarded the 09:35 train. Later that day CCTV camera footage shows a fresh faced Andrew crossing the London concourse and leaving the station. That’s the last time Andrew has ever been seen.
Kevin (43) says the whole family are grief stricken. Andrew was raised in a middle-class Christian family. His parents Kevin and Glenys worked as speech therapists. Andrew attended McAuley Catholic High School where he was considered an academic high flyer and a naturally gifted student - who was in the top 5% of his school for maths and was bordering on genius level.
There’d been no arguments within the family, Andrew and his sister Charlotte (17) were good friends. The family shared hobbies and would openly discuss anything troubling them. In fact they had all enjoyed an evening meal together the night before Andrew fled. So understandably, they are not just anxious but at a complete loss to understand his motivation for leaving.
The stress of Andrew’s disappearance has taken its toll on father Kevin (43). He’s lost 3 stone, had a breakdown and now no longer works. His subsequent depression took him so low that he tried to hang himself, (he was found and rescued by his close friend, the local vicar). Kevin’s wife Glenys is struggling to come to terms with the loss of Andrew, as well as the near death of her husband.
Kevin now spends all of his time on ensuring Andrew’s campaign remains in the public eye. Since Andrew vanished The Gosden family have organised mass leafleting campaigns in London and Doncaster and have attended Goth Music festivals in the hope of meeting like minded youngsters who may know something about Andrew’s whereabouts. Kevin has even contacted all of the gay media – as during his research he discovered that gay teenagers are significantly more likely to run away from home.
Programme Contributors: Father Kevin, Auntie Chrissie and Grandmother Val
Do you have any information which may help? If you know something, please contact the charity Missing People on its 24-hour confidential Freefone service – call 0500 700 700 or e mail sightings@missingpeople.org.uk
This age progression uses photos of Andrew as a child and pictures of other family members to predict what he might look like now.
FREEFONE: 0500 700 700
EMAIL: sightings@missingpeople.org.uk
WEBSITE: www.missingpeople.org.uk
