A theory I’ve not seen discussed here before relates to the money he took out. Even after the train ticket, and potentially the pizza, A was still carrying around £150+ of cash. Isn’t it possible that someone saw a 14-year-old with that much cash, and that A became the victim of a mugging. That itself opens up other possibilities: maybe the mugging went wrong, and the perpetrators then had to cover it up. Or A, in shock and now without money, became even more vulnerable for something else to happen. Just a theory, but flashing actual cash in London has never been a sensible thing to do!
Not sure. Just because the type of people who mug aren't necessarily the people that make people disappear. If Andrew put up more of a fight against a mugger than was expected, I think they would have just ran off especially in broad daylight in public? But nothing is impossible!
I agree they’re not usually the same demographic, hence “gone wrong”! In the same way as totally accidentally hitting someone with a car might suddenly compel someone to cover up what happened.
I also don’t think he would have put up a fight…I imagine he was an easy target.
Even with a straightforward mugging that happens many times a day in London: the money is gone, something traumatic just happened, you’re shocked and shaken, you ask the wrong adult to help you make a call or find the police…and it all goes south from there.
It’s a possibility.
Andrew was also carrying a PSP (a high value item in 2007), was alone and physically vulnerable. To someone looking for a target, he stuck out.
I don’t think it’s the most likely theory, but I certainly don’t think it should be discounted.
I wonder if there’s a way to track the PSP or if it can be tracked down in the future. I’m sure tracking a remote connection alone is probably impossible but maybe a serial number could come in handy plus knowing when one is on the market nearby. This is where pawn shops would come in handy
It's quite possible someone saw him buy something they though was worth stealing, or saw him with notes of money in a shop or his psp and followed him.
Why would they see it? He wasn’t likely waving it around.
When he took it out to pay for food, or whatever else he withdrew the cash to buy.
That's true, but muggers or any random attackers will flee the scene leaving the body in situ. The fact that no body has been found after all this time suggests a more sinister scenario.
Oh for sure, I think it's more likely that any potential mugging made him more vulnerable rather than being a direct cause of death.