Missing Linda Razzell - Murdered or Vanished

This case has bugged me for quite a long time so having recently studied some material on Christopher Halliwell, a serial killer, thought by some to be a suspect in the case and watched a documentary about Linda's husband Glyn, who was convicted of her murder (despite there being no body found) I thought I would post on this one before I write about Halliwell as a blog.

Before I get into this blog I want to say that something about this story just doesn't sit right with me and that is why I am considering the possibility of producing a documentary on the case. There has already been a couple broadcast but it is my opinion that due to the way they were put together very little new information has been forthcoming. 

The biggest issue with the documentaries concerned has been that they have mainly targeted the story of Mr Razzell's innocence and not really studied Linda Razzell's disappearance. The makers of documentaries, in this case, have decided to follow the news media and assume that because Glyn Razzell is serving a life sentence for the murder of his estranged wife that she must, in fact, be dead, well I don't really buy it. One of the documentaries examined Glyn Razzell's case with a view to trying to appeal his conviction so once again appealed to only a relatively small audience. Bearing in mind that it has been well publicised that a person was convicted of Linda Razzell's murder many people have taken their eyes off the ball so to speak.

I am sure there are people out there that may well have seen something or may remember something that sticks in their mind about the day in question but kind of dismissed it as Glyn Razzell is serving a prison sentence for a murder so "That must be what happened". well not necessarily.

Read on and I will try to bring all the details as well as explain my reasoning as to why I do not necessarily believe Linda Razzell to be dead. . .

Linda Razzell was 41 years old at the time of her disappearance. She lived in Highworth on the outskirts of Swindon and disappeared on her way to work on Tuesday 19th March 2002. Linda left home with her children at approximately 8.40am in her red Ford Escort and drove 7 miles into Swindon to work, dropping the children at school and her boyfriend at his work on the way. She parked her car in a residential street, Alvescott Road and set off to walk an approximately 20-minute journey to the nearby college where she was a teaching assistant, but she never arrived and has never been seen again. 

Mother of four Linda was married but in the process of getting divorced. Her estranged husband. Glyn Razzell had recently been made redundant from his job in finance. Linda had become unhappy in her marriage and started an affair with a man that had been working on an extension to the family home. As a result Glyn also spread his wings so to speak and found himself a lover. Linda and Glyn separated in August 2000 and Glyn left the family home. The affair with the builder didn't last and Linda moved on to a new boyfriend Greg Worrall.

According to friends of Glyn & Linda, the divorce negotiations became pretty ugly and Glyn stood to face a huge financial loss. Just a few days prior to Linda's disappearance she was granted a court order that saw a freeze put on her estranged husband's personal bank accounts, which lead to Glyn changing his plans for a French "booze cruise" at short notice in order that he could work with his solicitor to get that problem resolved.

You may well think, here is the motive for Glyn Razzell to murder his wife before she destroyed him altogether but I will explain reasons why that doesn't seem quite as simple as we may think, so do read on. . .

OK so as I just mentioned, on the morning of Linda's disappearance her husband Glyn had been scheduled to go on a booze cruise with some friends to France, but those plans fell through at short notice as he had to swear an affidavit with his solicitor in connection with the divorce. As a result, he loaned his car to his friends due to its size and capacity (it was a Ford Galaxy people carrier) and agreed to use their Renault Laguna whilst they were away. As he found himself at something of a loose end early that Tuesday morning he decided to go for a long walk and do some thinking.

He took a brief telephone call from his girlfriend at 8.24am then went on his way, leaving the Laguna in his driveway and apparently unaware of any problem with Linda. Glyn was not made aware of the fact Linda had not reported for work that day until around 5pm that day when a missing person report was filed. 

This is where things take a bit of a twist as we can be absolutely certain that the time of the telephone call received by Glyn on his home 'landline' telephone is accurate and therefore he could not have driven across Swindon in rush hour traffic in time to have reached Linda in time. Now add to that the confirmed fact that Linda left home later than normal on that particular day as one of her children had forgotten their homework and had to go back into the house for it, of course, there was no way Glyn would have known that. Further to this Linda had only started parking in the street where she was last seen since her separation from Glyn due to the cost of parking being expensive and her struggling financially, none of these facts were known to her estranged husband. Even if he had managed to drive across Swindon in time, he would have gone to her old parking area and not found Linda or her car.

So this information rules him out, right? Wrong as none of it could be absolutely proved. 

I am not overly familiar with the layout of Swindon but I have been reliably informed that Alvescott Road was a good 20 - 25-minute walk from the college where Linda worked, so why park so far away? Maybe it truly was the nearest area where she could park her car for free but it must have proved a problem in bad weather. Apparently, her routine seems to suggest that she would normally arrive in Alvescott Road around 0850 and reach the college at approximately 0915. According to the children and Greg Worrall, Linda had left home late that day so even her own routine was changed.

On the day before her disappearance, Linda had visited 3 separate banks, with her boyfriend and had made cash withdrawals at each one. A little indicative of something unusual in my opinion particularly as she was experiencing a lot of financial hardship so would have been short of funds as it was. The bank visits and withdrawals suggest to me that she was planning a particular use of the cash and that could well have been to go away with. Her bank visits and withdrawals were confirmed by CCTV yet Wiltshire police seem to not take much consideration or relevance of this. In my opinion, this bears great importance to the investigation.

One very curious and somewhat indicative occurrence on the day before Linda disappeared was that she visited Glyn's bank where she claimed that she wanted to pay money in. Of course, she knew that his accounts had been frozen. but nonetheless managed to obtain information by deception, Not only was this borderline illegal, it was quite an odd thing to do as she had been separated from Glyn for some 19 months and was almost divorced. The process was nearing its end and the divorce was due to be completed within a matter of weeks. 

Bearing all this in mind combined with the fact that Linda already had possession of the family home she had no legitimate reason to go to Glyn's bank and as far as I can ascertain it was not something that she had done before. I do wonder what she had hoped to do with any information gleaned from her actions that day and I feel it demonstrates that Linda was behaving somewhat irrationally. So what was behind that visit to Glyn's bank? What did Linda gain from it? Questions that we may never get a definitive answer to, certainly not unless we find Linda alive.

Linda was apparently quite a hot-headed woman that became flustered and angry quite quickly and was often seen to be stressed, yet statements from her children suggest that on the morning of her disappearance she was much calmer than usual and when she dropped the children off she would always say "see you at five". On this occasion, the children say that on that last journey with them when they reached school Linda simply said goodbye. 

Now it is perfectly reasonable to say that she knew they were running late so she just said "goodbye" so that she get on her way to work, but when a routine is in place it seems a little strange to change a parting comment like that. I know as a child my mum always said "see you tonight" whether she was dropping us at school or we were walking or riding away up the drive if she had suddenly said something different I would have been surprised and concerned. 

The next points that seem suggestive that Linda Razzell may have been planning to vanish on 19th March 2002 are that firstly she had 2 mobile telephones, 1 for every day and work use and 1 which she always carried which was specifically used for her children to contact her in an emergency, a phone which she left switched on even at work. On the day in question, Linda did not take that mobile with her, in fact, it was found in a drawer at home, switched off. 

Secondly, Linda had been issued with an identity badge which she had to wear at work, this was also in the drawer at home. Now surely it is reasonable to suggest that she would have had both the phone and badge in her handbag as she knew she was going to work and would need both with her. I can see a possible but somewhat unlikely explanation that she was running late on the morning of March 19th and absent-minded left them behind but my thinking is; why were such important items in the drawer? Surely during weekdays, those things would remain in Linda's handbag? A little strange in my thinking to suggest that every evening she would remove them from her bag or pocket, place them into a drawer, only to get them out again the very next morning, knowing that they were important and needed every day. I know we all do things differently but this really sticks with me as just a little strange.

Curiously the calendar at Linda's home had been marked with a ? question mark on the date of 19th March 2002, that seems a little indicative that she had something that she was at least considering doing on that date. The children and Greg Worrall had no explanation for the marking so obviously, Linda put it there, but why I guess we may never know unless we find Linda Razzell. 

I can only surmise that she had something that she had been considering for that day and the question mark was asking her shall I do that or not? Maybe something on the lines of "do I go"? or "am I ready to go"? " have I got everything ready to leave"?  These are of course only assumptions and could not really be seen as stand-alone strong evidence in an enquiry, but combined with other markers it's just another thing to add to a list of indicators that Linda Razzell planned her own disappearance.

I have had it suggested to me that Linda not only planned to disappear but as part of this she would frame her estranged husband for her murder as she knew with enough circumstantial evidence he could be convicted without her body necessarily being found. These are after all the actions of a lady with various mental health problems since the 1970s and which had reportedly started to return prior to her vanishing. Linda's children reported that she had been upset a lot more and would often go off alone and would not want them with her or want their cuddles. It was discovered that she had been prescribed anti-depressant medication but she had not been taking it leading up her disappearance.

An analysis of Linda's home PC turned up that there had very recently been internet searches for cheap flights to French-speaking countries, again not necessarily relevant but this combined with the fact that Linda spoke French fluently, loved holidays to France and she had lived in France for a year during her life. The fact that she vanished without a trace after these searches is a little more than suggestive of something that should in my opinion have been looked at much more closely. 

Add to this information that Linda was good friends with a couple of which the husband had worked on projects in the French-speaking country of Burundi and Linda had helped with his understanding the language. Further to that, a pad of Linda's was found with the address of the official residence of the ambassador of Burundi written on it. This could have of course been because she had helped her friend out that had worked there but again this potential lead indicator should be examined and given more consideration.

Now I come to a particular point which I firmly believe to be very, very suggestive and concerning. Linda Razzell was an avid reader, particularly of crime novels and prior to her disappearance, she had been reading Trial & Retribution 3, which she had read almost three-quarters of the way through. The book features details of the methods used by police during murder investigations and the plot of the story features a body in a boot of a car and planting of evidence in order to frame someone for murder. 

Is it just me or is this relevant and indicative of something a little suspicious? After all, let's bear in mind that Linda was very bitter towards and held something of a grudge against her estranged husband Glyn. The fact that one of the main pieces of "evidence" relied upon by the prosecution at Glyn Razzell's trial was bloodstains found mainly in the boot of the car.

So on that note let's return to Glyn Razzell and his potential involvement in Linda's disappearance and mysterious murder. . .

Now in order for Glyn Razzell to have got across town to meet and abduct Linda in that Tuesday morning, he would have had to pass some 25 traffic cameras on the way and despite the police examining all of them, there was no sign of the Renault Laguna or indeed Glyn Razzell. There is no alternative route from Glyn's home to the area where Linda parked her car so that should have ruled him out as a suspect but it did not. He would have had to have left home no later than 0820 in order to get to Alvescott Road in time but in fact, he was on the telephone on his home landline until approximately 0826 talking with his girlfriend.

I am not here to debate whether Glyn Razzell is guilty of his wife's abduction and possible murder but I will look at as much evidence as I can to try to draw a conclusion as to where Linda Razzell is and if indeed she was murdered and by whom. 

I will explain further in I do not agree with the supposition that serial killer Christopher Halliwell had anything to do with the matter. I do see some possibilities but I am aware that an organisation called Inside Justice recently examined the disappearance and were unable to establish any links to the killer either. 

Louise shorter CEO of Inside Justice and her team interviewed many people including the building contractors that undertook the extension building work on the Razzell's home but there was nothing to suggest that Christopher Halliwell ever worked on the property despite false media reports suggesting that he did, even suggesting that he was the man that Linda had an affair with is not the case as far as can be ascertained. 

Linda's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance was not the man with whom she had the affair with during the building work in the family home but there is still no evidence to link the building work on Razzell's house, an affair with Linda or even to suggest that Linda and Christopher knew one another.

As far as I am able to establish Christopher Halliwell was, in fact, making his living pretty much full time as a taxi driver at the time that Mrs Razzell vanished. 

There are indications that Halliwell may well have been actively killing in 2002 there have so far been no crimes actually linked with solid evidence to him and that includes the disappearance of Linda Razzell. We cannot even suggest that she was abducted in Halliwell's taxi as Linda parked her own car in Alvescott Road and as far as I am able to understand there is no record of her using taxi services.

There is a brief mention of a beige coloured car being parked in Alvescott Road, near to where Linda parked and a man was apparently sitting in the driver's seat. I am not currently able to find any evidence of this being considered during the investigation into Linda's disappearance nor anything to particularly suggest that there may have been any reason to think anything was particularly suspicious.

Let's come back to the story so far as Glyn Razzell's conviction for his wife's murder is concerned. . .

According to other corroborating evidence Linda suffered from varying degrees of mental health problems and as the divorce from Glyn became more protracted and bitter she made allegations that on at least two occasions her husband had physically assaulted her. In both cases, Glyn was acquitted at trial by jury and the cases closed. 

Now the relevant points need to be examined: 

• Some 16 hours after Linda disappeared Wiltshire police went to Glyn's home to ask him some questions about the matter, during which time they examined his car.
• Glyn volunteered information to the police by telling them that he had in fact driven a different vehicle that day and advised them as to where the Laguna was, surely if he had something to hide he would have simply allowed them to examine his own car knowing that it had been in France on the day in question. 
• The police then examined the Renault Laguna but found nothing indicative to suggest Linda may have been in the vehicle either being abducted or otherwise on TWO occasions, only after it had been returned twice to its owner in a filthy state covered in forensic powders and the owner had thoroughly cleaned it inside and out was it then taken away again, examined and large amounts of blood splashes found that were found to belong to Linda, hmmm something wrong there me thinks.
• Interestingly there were no hairs, DNA, skin flakes, etc connected to Linda in the car at all and as far as I can establish there was nothing found on Glyn's clothes either.
• An eyewitness that knew both Linda Razzell and her boyfriend states that she saw Linda's boyfriend sitting on a wall in Queen's Park in Swindon at 0930 on Tuesday 19th March 2020. This park is close to Alvescott Road where Linda parked her car and she would have normally walked through that park on the way to work.
• Linda's boyfriend Greg had been monitoring Glyn's movements for some two weeks leading up to Linda's disappearance and this is confirmed by a statement from Glyn Razzell's neighbour saying that Greg Worrall had been asking her questions about Glyn and his movements. Apparently, Greg Worrall had knocked on her door assuming it was Glyn's house and enquired if Glyn still lived there, this behaviour has never been explained
• Very interestingly when Greg was interviewed by the police on 20th March 2002 he somehow knew that Glyn had been using the Renault Laguna on 19th March and told the police so. Once again it seems rather suspicious that the police did not seem to consider this as odd or indeed raise any question as to how and why a man that was in no way connected to Glyn knew such information or indeed why.
• Mobile telephone records clearly indicate that Greg Worrall was not where he claimed to be on the day that Linda disappeared. There are at least 3 occasions where mobile telephone masts indicated that they had identified the phone in use in their coverage area yet he had claimed to be elsewhere at those times. Worrall was never cross-examined about this despite clear cell site analysis from his phone confirming him to be a liar, why is this I ask myself?
• Now the prosecution did not pursue this or find it suspicious, yet when it was mentioned that Glyn Razzell's mobile phone was switched off at the time that Linda went missing they submitted this to the trial jury as very suspicious, why is that? See why I feel things really do not add up?
• One more very important point is that Linda Razzell reported allegations on two separate occasions that her husband had violently attacked her. On both times Glyn Razzell was acquitted at trial. He did admit to the team of Inside Justice that there had been a violent incident once during his marriage which had got a little out of hand but he fully admitted that and never attempted to hide anything.
• Linda's mobile phone was found in the alleyway where it has been suggested she was abducted from and police say that the phone had fallen out of Linda's bag in the struggle when she was abducted. The problem with this is that the phone received a number of calls on Tuesday 19th March 2002 from people trying to find Linda but one particular stands out as at 2215 on the night of 19th March a phone mast over a mile away from where the phone was found picked up a call to Linda's phone. According to expert witnesses, this mast could NOT have received the signal from where the phone was located. 
• The phone was found under a plank of wood suggesting that it was planted there, this, in my opinion, is backed up by the fact Greg Worrall was seen in Alvescott Road "checking to see if Linda's car was still there" that same night and the phone was found the next morning 20th March 2002.
• It is even more indicative of foul play when we consider that there had been a heavy police presence in the said alleyway during that Tuesday yet the phone had not been spotted but surprisingly it was found the very next morning. So was it planted there sometime after 2215 on Tuesday night? I think it is highly likely yes, is the answer to that question.
• The Renault Laguna was forensically examined on 3 separate occasions, the first two found nothing, yet the third time a large quantity of blood staining was found around the boot area of the car but rather surprisingly NONE was found on any of the driving controls or doors of the vehicle, not even the boot lip.

I think I have covered pretty much every angle of this story, suffice to say I do not believe that Linda Razzell is dead, there is very little evidence to suggest that she is. Some would say her bank accounts and finances have not been used since, but it was quite simple in 2002 to vanish and assume another identity, all the more so in a foreign country like Burundi for example. To be fair the old adage is true "If a person does not want to be found, even the best detective will struggle to locate them"

There have been witnesses that have claimed to see Linda Razzell since her disappearance including a lady that was a long term friend of Linda's and knew her very well who claimed that she had seen her driving in a silver Ford Fiesta on the day after she vanished and that Linda had appeared very angry that the woman had seen her and that the witness attempted to make contact by waving. The police refused to accept this witness story and even set about trying to find the Ford Fiesta but despite 70 vehicles being checked the car was not traced. I do believe this witness to be correct and she DID Linda the day AFTER she disappeared.

So has Glyn Razzell served 17 years in prison for a murder that he did not commit? Yes in my opinion he quite likely has done.

Was Linda abducted and murdered on Tuesday 19th March 2002? In my opinion, no I doubt it

Was Linda murdered by Christopher Halliwell or did she even know him? No in my opinion and based on researched evidence that is very unlikely.

Is Linda Razzell still alive and living a life as someone else? Yes, in my opinion, I think that is highly likely

Did Linda Razzell and her boyfriend possibly frame Glyn Razzell for her murder? In all honesty, I don't know at this stage, but I would not be at all surprised

Please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on this and of course, watch out for updates

https://glynrazzell.org.uk/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/04/ukcrime.features11

https://insidetime.org/the-case-of-glyn-razzell/

Documentary: During the time that I have been researching and writing this blog an independent TV company have replied to me with a view to making a documentary; so I now begin the process of contacting relevant people, conducting interviews and preparing a script. I shall, of course, keep you updated as time passes.

Glyn Razzell and his new partner Rachel Smith 

Linda Razzell and her boyfriend Greg Worrall

 

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?

The picture above indicates what Andrew may look like today if you know anything at all or indeed Andrew if you are reading this and even if you don't want to be found just contact someone and let them know you are safe

Here is the official family website http://helpustofindandrew.weebly.com/

Remember Andrew has a very unusual ear :