Welcome to this blog site where I will be looking as deeply as possible at various unsolved crimes and cases where things just don't seem so straight forward. All writings are either based on thoroughly researched facts or are my opinion alone. I do not bear any one any malice and do not intend my writings to upset anyone. I will not be held responsible for any errors in quoting from law or media articles. I hold my opinions and will not edit or remove articles that are published within UK law.
Monday 3 August 2020
Ann Heron - Unsolved murder 30th anniversary
Thursday 25 June 2020
Missing Andrew Gosden
https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/help-us-find/andrew-gosden-07-019198
Andrew Gosden went missing from his home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire on September 14th 2007, he was aged just 14 years old at the time. He withdrew £200 in cash from his bank account and bought a one-way ticket to London and simply vanished, ha has never been seen or heard of since.
Andrew was an extremely high achiever in school, particularly excelling in mathematics. Just a few weeks before he disappeared he had attended a summer school camp of some kind aimed at high achievers and in fact chose that over and above going on holiday in London.
According to his father Kevin, Andrew had been very keen and excitable about the time that he had spent at 'The young gifted and talented programme'. Andrew merely saw school as something that had to be done in order to progress to adult life, so clearly, he was very keen to progress. Hardly the kind of lad to want to end his life in my humble opinion, so I feel suicide can be pretty much ruled out.
As some of you that know me and follow me on Twitter I am a very suspicious minded person and when something lands at my door, no matter how old or how seemingly mundane I am not happy just to put it down if I feel there is more to it and that is most definitely the case here. This young the chap went missing in South Yorkshire, rocked up in London's busy Kings Cross then promptly vanished out of the sight of all that CCTV and millions of pairs of eyes, really?
I am not convinced by the explanation that the police took too long to gather CCTV, whilst that may be true in part I am in no way satisfied that the very last camera sighting of a young lad, dressed in quite a unique way at a time of the day when kids would be at school quite adds up. To be fair it's not like he could pass for an 18-year-old, he was by his father's own admission of a younger appearance than his actual age. Why did the police take too long, if of course, that is true? Why was he not stopped by police or truancy officers in London, particularly bearing in mind there are schools quite close to Kings cross?
Yes I fully accept that the capital city is an extremely busy place with many, many tourists visiting every day but, surely a 14-year-old boy who looked more like 12 walking around the city centre alone should have drawn attention. After all, the city has many people rushing around it but it also has many police officers, security staff and huge amounts of operational CCTV watched by dedicated controllers constantly viewing it.
THE DAY ANDREW VANISHED
Friday, September 14th 2007 started much the same way as any other school day in the Gosden family home, except that Andrew was reportedly just a little more tired and irritable than normal, but nonetheless he got up for school and set off on time, calling "see you later" as he set off out at around 0805. That's where things took their first turn as Andrew did not set off towards the school bus, but instead went to the park just down the road and waited for his parents and sister to leave the house.
Immediately a question comes to mind, although it may be irrelevant; Why did Andrew and his sister, 2 years his senior not head out to school together? I've not seen any explanation but I do wonder if they attended the same school, surely they must have, but maybe not. I have not been able to ascertain what school Andrew's sister attended but I do know that he attended McCauley catholic high school
Moving on
So, Andrew sets off as normal, no signs of anything wrong were noticed by the family, but there was something wrong wasn't there? This young lad with a 100% attendance record at school goes and hides out in a park, never even heading for school and clearly no intention of attending. 25 minutes later he's been back home, changed his clothes from school uniform to every day casual and headed out for the last time. Nobody saw this youngster to really notice him, hardly observant or conscientious in South Yorkshire then. Did nobody walk through the park at that time of the day, maybe on their way to work, school or maybe to the shops? Nobody thought it a little odd to see a boy in school uniform sat in a park? Did no one approach Andrew? Ask if he was OK and why he was not on his way to school?
The teenager then headed out to the cashpoint, passing a neighbour's CCTV, where he withdrew £200 from his bank account then headed to the station where he insisted on purchasing a one-way ticket to London despite being advised that he could buy a return for literally just a few pence more. He would have had around £130 left after the ticket so a few pence more would not have made any difference. Seemingly 14-year-old Andrew either had a plan of how he would return home which failed or he had no intention of returning. Now let's look carefully here. . .
Andrew was an above average, highly educated boy always keen to learn new things, so it stands to reason that he would have known that he would be seen by the neighbouring house CCTV and would almost certainly be seen hiding out on a bench in a park, but did nothing to conceal his movements or take another route perhaps? He grew up in that area so he would have almost certainly have had an idea of other people's movements around him and the likelihood of being observed.
I digress for a moment as at this point, a very important observation was made by the local / family vicar Reverend Alan Murray. The vicar knew Andrew very well as the family were regulars at the church, although Andrew had stopped attending a year before he vanished. The vicar was actually invited to dinner at the Gosden home on the very evening that Andrew disappeared. Reverend Murray states that he saw Andrew in the park on September 14th but did not pay attention and went on his way, only later thinking that Andrew's behaviour was a little out of character when he received the news that the boy had in fact gone missing.
Now I don't want to be accused of slander or of pointing the finger at all but let's just take a glance at the facts here: Andrew had a 100% school attendance record, he had NEVER bunked off school at all, not once and the school bus and route to school lay in the opposite direction to the park, obviously the family vicar knew all of this.
Reverend Murray had telephone numbers for Andrew's parents but he 'never gave it much thought' and went upon his merry way. I really do find that a little hard to accept, so I am left to ask the question as to why. Having studied many articles, watched documentaries and You-tube videos, I've learnt a lot but I can't help feeling that there is so much more that should be said, many questions simply remain unanswered.
I have even taken the trouble to carefully study many posts and discussions on the Reddit website with so many lovely people going over various thoughts on the case. Some people would class the users of sites such as Reddit as "armchair detectives" but I personally find their points help me to understand and consider stories such as this one in more depth. Many of them are not in any way qualified but they take the time and use their abilities to really think even the smallest point through and analyse it carefully. In my opinion, it is often the smaller points that make such a difference to a case.
Let's take the usual route and consider as much as we can in this case, please do read on. . .
Fourteen-year-old Andrew got up on the morning of September 14th 2007 obviously planning to leave his home and head to London, was he going to sneak off to a concert of one of his favourite rock bands? No, I just don't feel that explanation is right, why? Well . . .
Andrew was very happy going to school as he saw education as important and had an absolutely 100% attendance record, his father even said that Andrew had never even taken a day off sick with flu or a cold. I have previously mentioned that Andrew had chosen to attend an educational high achievers summer camp during the summer holidays rather than go on a trip to London to visit his grandparents when he could have easily gone to a concert or two, so why sneak off? That added with the fact he purchased a one-way ticket to London not a return really makes me see things differently.
I am almost convinced that when Andrew Gosden boarded the train that September day, he knew there was no plan to return home but, one small thing makes me unsure and that is that he left over a hundred pounds in his room, surely he would have taken it to use. There is one possible explanation there and that is that he believed he was going somewhere and maybe with somebody where he would not need money.
I feel at the juncture it's quite important to ask a rather obvious question. . .So picture this scenario; You are working in the ticket office at the railway station, it is a school day and a 14-year-old boy that looks younger appears alone and requests to purchase a One-way ticket to travel alone some 170 miles. Would you not question this? Why is he not at school? Where are his parents or guardian? Where has he got such a large amount of money? Furthermore, this small boy is adamant that he only wants a one-way journey, would you not ask questions and raise the alarm, maybe contact the British Transport Police? Surely it is obvious there is something that is abnormal about this, would you not have confirmed the child's safety? I know I definitely would have done.
There have been many theories put forward about Andrew's reason for disappearing including a suggestion that he ran away to commit suicide but I really don't accept that at all. I mean why would a teenager travel all those miles to end his life? Surely there would have been many places where he could have simply vanished and killed himself locally to his home. Also as previously mentioned he withdrew some £200 from his bank leaving it almost empty when he only needed approximately £70 to travel to London so why take the rest if he simply intended to commit suicide? In my mind, that theory is dismissed.
Just as recently as March 2020 Andrew's anguished dad Kevin Gosden spoke to Examiner Live and explained that every day is still a real struggle for him and the family as they simply have no reason for his son's disappearance and no leads as to his whereabouts or what has become of him. You can read that article below.
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/dad-missing-doncaster-teenager-andrew-17902519
Kevin is still desperate to get even the tiniest piece of information that could lead to him knowing what happened to his son Andrew and ultimately if he is still alive. I will say at this point I think that the young man is still alive but, that is only a personal 'gut' feeling, I have not been shown any evidence to truly suggest either way. The more that I think on this case and the more that I research the more I am convinced that London was never Andrew's intended final destination, in fact I feel that the boy was clever enough to buy a ticket there to make everyone look for him there.
I look at his face and cannot help thinking "Here is a lad that is very clever for his age" He would have worked out everything meticulously I am sure and had everything planned. He apparently wasn't very smart when it came to everyday stuff like packing things to travel with but, he travelled to London alone having carefully thought out his going out as normal, hiding out in a park, coming back and even laying somewhat a cold trail in the family home.
This boy dressed in school uniform, went back home put everything in its usual place in order not to raise the alarm any earlier than absolutely necessary. I highlight this as I feel it to be a very relevant part of Andrew's plan. To be fair if he had not gone through the usual process of hanging his blazer on the back of the chair and putting his uniform into the washing machine his family would have wondered why and looked for him probably as much as two and a half hours earlier than they did.
There has at one stage been an online contact with a young man identifying as "Roo" which was Andrew's childhood nickname. In this contact, he apparently told a man that he had no bank account as he had left home at age fourteen. How accurate this lead is I would not like to speculate but once again IF this was Andrew then "Roo" told the man that he was in Lincoln and I wouldn't mind betting that he was nowhere near there as he knew that if this man raised the alarm the Gosden family and the police would go looking for him there and of course they did.
The family received the news that "Roo" had been in contact with someone online and had said he was in Lincoln, they took themselves there and spent time driving around the streets, handing out flyers and talking to people but of course, the search lead to nothing and the trail once again went cold.
Now; One point that I really believe holds a lot of relevance yet it seems neither the police nor the Gosden Family really pursued is the potential male witness that went to Enterprise Way Police Station in Leominster, Herefordshire. Unfortunately, when the "witness" arrived at the police station he found it closed and used an intercom to communicate with HQ and said that he had information in connection with Andrew's disappearance and that he had seen him in Shrewsbury. Sadly by the time, a police officer arrived to speak to the man he had vanished into the night.
The same man is believed to have written to The BBC since that time with the same information saying that was pretty certain that he had seen Andrew Gosden in Shrewsbury and apparently West Yorkshire police were liaising with local police to follow things up. The story featured on the BBC Spotlight programme on 26th November 2008 but unlike London and Lincoln there is no suggestion that the Gosdens went to Shrewsbury or indeed did any campaigning there, which strikes me as a little odd, I guess we can only wonder why.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/consumer/2008/11/26/missing_at_christmas.html
I can well believe that Andrew reads all the articles written about him and watches the many videos and knows that he left for a reason, but that is the massive question which if answered would in my belief lead to Andrew being found. . .Why did 14-year old Andrew Gosden leave home?
Tuesday 19 May 2020
The Murders of Julie Pacey & Sharon Harper 1994
Working through each item of evidence as supplied there are many questions in both the case of Sharon Harper who lived at Sycamore Court and worked at the Market Cross pub in Westgate, murdered between 1st and 3rd of July 1994, her body was found in shrubbery in the Shepherd construction site on Earlsfield Lane, Grantham on 3rd July 1994 and that of Julie Pacey, murdered on 26th September 1994, her body was found by her 14-year-old daughter Helen in the family bathroom at Longcliffe Road, Grantham soon after she was killed.
Police have so far always refused to link the two cases, despite post-mortems revealing similarities. The individual OICs, officers in charge of the cases think the MO, modus operandi in each case is too different but I disagree. Let's be realistic, there has to be some reason why the police have drawn that conclusion and I feel there is something that truly does not add up. Let's look at some facts. . .
United Kingdom National Database
Officially known as The UK national criminal intelligence DNA Database, set up in 1995 using the Second Generation Multiplex (SGM)DNA profiling system and by 2016 held no less than 5.8 million DNA records.
These records are obtained from crime scenes and police suspects, although its is fair to say that samples taken from suspects that are not charged are apparently destroyed.
Back to the story. . .
It has been suggested that Sharon could possibly have been working as some sort of sex worker as she only had a part-time job. She was struggling to bring up a small baby and maintain her life in a flat, however, she was also in a long term relationship and was engaged to be married, so this is something which doesn't seem to have had much scrutiny, whether or not it is relevant we may never know but worthy of a mention.
Further question arises here as statements say "No sign of a struggle" so how did a killer get the jumper out of the way, get the ligature on to successfully strangle Julie without her fighting back? It is human instinct to fight back, so surely her hands would be marked?
After all it's the Fight or flight response, the body naturally responds to danger, acute stress and attack. The body's sympathetic nervous system is activated due to a sudden release of hormones when faced with something frightening, the heartbeat is quickened, the person begins to breathe faster, the body becomes tense in immediate readiness to take action
This is again a very important point in the case; Look at the detail carefully. . .
- Julie was alive and driving her car at 3.10pm
- Julie had gone into the house, made a cup of tea, carried it upstairs and drunk some of it
- Julie had also eaten some of a chocolate bar and got her make up kit out onto the bed
- This would all have taken a few minutes, particularly for the tea to be cool enough to drink
- If the killer was 'overalls man' as suggested then he had to have been out of Longcliffe Road by 4.10pm to avoid meeting Julie's daughter Helen on her way home, as she knew what he looked like and would almost certainly have spotted him.
- only having a side view through a thick hedge and fence.
- due to the land being empty a person standing there or walking around on it would have been noticed.
- This is fair to say as several witnesses came forward from the local area that knew Julie Pacey and they had noticed things such as the times that Julie came and went from her home and the other vehicle which I will turn to next.
Why did someone more directly involved with Julie not see her in the car or with its owner? I mean, her mother and father lived just 2 miles away and her husband Andrew was a local plumber so could have popped home for tools or completed a job early and come home so if there was something untoward then Julie must have taken some risks in driving around so openly
- The reports are uncorroborated as the car has never been found
- There are, as far as I am aware no reports of anyone else driving the car
- There are also no reports of anyone else being seen driving Julie's Audi, so we have to assume that was at home whilst Julie drove the BMW, which is very hard to understand or explain.
Why if this man murdered someone and it was all over the news locally and nationally would he risk being seen in Grantham town centre even dressed in the same clothes the very next day? I understand that some killers are absolutely brazen, I mean after all Ian Huntley, the Soham killer even offered to help family and police search for his victims but, from my criminology research it is far more likely that the killer would have "made himself scarce" for at least a few days after the incident knowing that many people including the police were looking for a murderer.
The point of concern here that I am confused about, this 'friend' said that she had been very concerned about Sharon and the mysterious man but she did nothing and informed no one until of course it was too late and Sharon was dead. Why did the friend not maybe contact Sharon's boyfriend or maybe other mutual friends? Maybe she felt as Sharon had been bluntly clear that she did not want the identity of the man known that she should keep out of it, shame really as maybe a bit of forethought could have saved Sharon from a violent and untimely end.
Sharon Harper was next seen on Wharf Road, near to the roundabout around 0045 where she appeared to be trying to go into a telephone box, but a man appeared to be trying to stop her and was pulling her away. If this report is true then it would seem that for some reason Sharon had gone back toward The Market Cross Pub to the phone box.
The second report was from a man who claimed to be a taxi driver, he again did not give any details about himself, but again chose to remain anonymous. He described the man that Sharon was with as wearing a white tee-shirt and jeans and having shoulder-length hair. Could this be our man that was seen with Sharon a month earlier near Morrisons? According to Lincolnshire police the same witnesses also indicated that they had seen Sharon with the same man before if that is so then clearly Sharon's boyfriend did not seem to know of him, so who was he and what part did he play in a young mother's life?
I am not one for accepting what I term 'half a tale'. These witnesses came forward almost as soon as the story of Sharon's murder broke, in fact, the calls were received on 4th July 1994.
The police say that they thought the callers were genuine and wanted to hear from them again because there may be so much more to discover but, they felt there were three possibilities when it comes to the callers. . .
- The calls were purely hoaxes
- That it was the killer trying to lay false leads
- That they were legitimate witnesses
I guess there is a possible explanation that she left a light on for when she got home, but as Sharon was a single parent struggling for money would it not be a bit of an expensive waste of electricity to leave a light on for maybe 6 or 7 hours, instead of simply flicking a switch when she got home? In my opinion, this is an important factor I would like cleared up.
Sharon Harper's daughter and her family are still seeking justice for her and to find out who was responsible for the tragic death well before time. Sadly Sharon's father, who brought his granddaughter up as his own after the tragedy lost his life to cancer and went to his grave without knowing who killed his precious daughter or indeed why.
Summary:
So we have two murders within just a few miles of each other in the same town in the space of 86 days, both females died of strangulation, both had recently had sex and one was beaten.
Both cases are surrounded by a mysterious set of circumstances, maybe one more than the other, nonetheless two women died in dreadful circumstances that should not have happened.
Two families have had to grow up with a huge part missing from their lives. Both women were mums, daughters and partners in relationships, those people's lives have been destroyed too and someone is out there somewhere knowing who is responsible, almost 26 years on.
The stories are very unusual and so interesting in many ways yet they seem to be left behind far too much. There are many, many questions that need to be answered, not least a killer or killers identified and convicted of heinous crimes. There are many things in both cases that don't quite add up in both cases, more so in the case of Julie Pacey, murdered on 26th September 1994 in my opinion.
It would be great to make this story into a film and really get it out there, as sadly there are too many unsolved cases, many involving cover-ups and false leads that have gone cold held on police files and rarely even reviewed whilst the persons responsible remain at large, potentially endangering others lives every day that they are free
If you have read this blog then firstly thank you and I hope that you have enjoyed it, if so please do subscribe as there are more to come. More importantly, if you have read this and feel that you have any information that will help the police then do please contact:
Grantham Police: 01522 532222
Crimestoppers: 0800 555 111
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_t9wh-pjv4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKGQ_d_-KxM&t=252s
Disclaimer: Please note all information in the research of this case has been sourced from the internet and is not meant for evidence and accuracy cannot be guaranteed beyond doubt
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