Disappearance of Andrew Gosden

Andrew Gosden disappeared after last being seen on CCTV at King's Cross station in London on 14 September 2007. At the time of his disappearance, Andrew Gosden was 14 years old and had come back home early from school, withdrawn £200 from his bank account and bought a one-way ticket to King's Cross from Doncaster station in South Yorkshire. Background: Andrew Gosden was a bright mathematician who was on a government sponsored programme to stretch the top five per cent of school pupils. He had been expected to score all A's in his GCSE's at School. The Gosden family live in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Disappearance: On the morning of his disappearance, Andrew had difficulty waking up and was particularly grumpy. He had a 100% attendance record at The McAuley Catholic High School and left at the normal time to wait for his school bus. He returned home to change out of his school uniform after the rest of the household had left for the day. He withdrew £200 from his bank account, went to Doncaster railway station and purchased a one-way ticket to London before boarding the 9:35 am train to King's Cross. Witnesses saw him getting on the train alone and CCTV at King's Cross shows him leaving the main entrance on the same day. That was the last time Andrew was seen. The ticket seller on Doncaster station remembers Andrew because he refused a return ticket, despite it only being £0.50 to £1.00 more than a single. When he failed to attend lessons at his school, the teachers tried to contact his parents but a misdial on the phone meant they ended up with the wrong number and Andrew's disappearance was not logged until later that day. Investigation and searches: Initial searches in London focused on the Chislehurst and Sidcup areas where the Gosden family have relatives. A family friend who runs a car dealership offered a free sports car to anyone passing information that would lead to identifying what happened to the teenager. Andrew's family were critical of the initial stages of the investigation. The police focused on the family before scouring the CCTV tapes at King's Cross, despite eye-witnesses stating that they had seen Andrew boarding the train and what time that was. CCTV imagery of Andrew at King's Cross wasn't checked until 27 days after his disappearance, by which time, the trail had gone cold. The CCTV image of Andrew leaving the main concourse at King's Cross was accompanied by a close up of his right ear which has a distinctive double ridge to it. Subsequent events: In October 2008, the Iceland supermarket chain included Andrew in a campaign to find missing people by publicising them on their milk cartons. In November 2008, a man visited Leominster police station in Herefordshire and used the intercom system to talk to a police officer stating that he had information about Andrew Gosden. As it was an evening, the intercom system was in use rather than a manned reception. When a police officer arrived to take the details the man had left. Police later appealed for him to get back in touch. In May 2011, the family paid a private company to conduct a sonar search of the River Thames, but no body was found. In 2016, Andrew's parents appealed for information on Panorama, the BBC's flagship current affairs television programme.