A 16-year mystery: What do we know about Andrew Gosden's disappearance?

On 14 September 2007 teenager Andrew Gosden boarded a train from his home town of Doncaster to London.

He was seen getting off the train, but then disappeared.

Fifteen years later, two men were arrested by police investigating the case, but his family remain no closer to finding out what happened.

What do we know about Andrew's disappearance?

Andrew was 14 years-old when he left home in Balby, Doncaster, to go to school on 14 September 2007.

He withdrew £200 from his bank account, bought a one-way train ticket to London and boarded the 9.35am GNER service from Doncaster.

CCTV cameras captured him at Kings Cross station later that day, the last confirmed sighting of the teenager.

At the time, he was wearing black jeans and a t-shirt.

Since leaving the station that day, no information about his movements has been corroborated by police.

The search effort

Over the years, Andrew's father, Kevin, has worked with the charity Missing People to raise awareness of his son's case.

Five years after his disappearance, images were produced by police showing how Andrew may have looked in his late teens.

In 2019, a new age-progression picture of him was released by South Yorkshire Police to show what he may have looked like at the age of 26.

When he went missing, Andrew had very poor vision and wore glasses. The 2019 photograph shows Andrew without glasses, in case he had started using contact lenses.

In a fresh appeal on the 14th anniversary of his disappearance, South Yorkshire Police re-issued further age-progression images.

According to information shared by police, Andrew has an unusual and distinctive right ear. He is also deaf in his left ear and struggles to locate the direction of sounds.

He would have turned 30 on 10 July 2023. Over the years, many sightings of people who look like Andrew have been reported, but no positive sighting of Andrew has ever been confirmed.

Arrests

In 2021 two men were arrested: a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of kidnap, human trafficking and the possession of indecent images of children; a 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and human trafficking.

The arrests were carried out in London by officers from South Yorkshire Police and the Metropolitan Police. 

Both were released under investigation while enquiries continue. There has been no update on the criminal investigation since then.

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