Doncaster dad fears son was snatched by child sex gang

Ten years ago today a Doncaster teenager headed off to school - and has never been seen again.
Kevin Gosden says he cannot give up on his son, Andrew,  who has been missing for 10 yearsKevin Gosden says he cannot give up on his son, Andrew,  who has been missing for 10 years
Kevin Gosden says he cannot give up on his son, Andrew, who has been missing for 10 years

Andrew Gosden was just 14 when he vanished after getting on a train to London instead of completing his journey from the family home in Balby to McAuley School, in Cantley.

To this day, mum and dad Kevin and Glenys do not know what has happened to him after that day, September 14, 2007.

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Today they mark the anniversary of his disappearance collecting money for the Missing People's Find Every Child campaign, on which Andrew is featured, at the last place he was known to visit in Doncaster, Doncaster railway station. They will be there from 4pm until 6pm.

Kevin, of Littlemoor Lane, Balby, will take part in a 10 hour sponsored silence, one hour for every year Andrew has been missing.

Not knowing what has happened to Andrew leaves Kevin swinging between hope he is still alive, and concern he may be dead. No remains have ever been found and a scan of the bed of the River Thames revealed no body.

Kevin said: "It is a huge mental torture, and my thoughts are different every day.

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"Hope comes and goes but at the end of the day you can't give up on your own kid. You do still hope that that maybe someone somewhere will find out he's alive, so you know he is OK. Equally there is the feeling that if they found identifiable remains, you would at least know where you were.

"It has been a decade of unending limbo. When Andrew went missing I struggled to think of him gone for 10 hours, let along 10 years.

"I would just say to him now 'we just want to know you're all right - we love you and care about you. We want to know you're alive and well'."

Among the fears that the family has is that their son may have been kidnapped by a paedophile gang.

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Kevin, aged 51, said: "It’s one of the horrifying thoughts that goes through your head even though you don’t want it there.

"I feel that he was going to ­something and, somewhere along the line, he fell foul of somebody."

Kevin said that police initially fixated on accusing him of involvement in Andrew's disappearance, driving him into a deep depression.

Kevin and wife Glenys thought their son had headed to London to 'broaden his horizons' and visit museums.

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The Gosdens were both working as speech therapists when Andrew disappeared.

Kevin gave up work because he couldn't 'think straight' and has struggled with depression ever since.

Andrew, who was predicted straight A*s in his GCSEs, had been earmarked for the Government's Gifted and Talented scheme, which aims to stretch top students.

He disappeared eight days into the new school term and was last seen on CCTV footage leaving King's Cross station - the only confirmed sighting of him.

Log onto http://helpustofindandrew.weebly.com/ if you can help find Andrew.