Unsolved 2008 disappearance of 16-year-old British student from London
| Alex Sloley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexander Sloley (1991-08-04)4 August 1991 |
| Disappeared | 2 August 2008 (aged 16) Islington, London, England |
| Status | Missing for 16 years, 4 months and 17 days |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Accountancy student |
Alexander Sloley (born 4 August 1991) was a British boy who disappeared without a trace on 2 August 2008 in Edmonton, north London, England, when he was 16. No evidence of his fate has been found, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
Background
Sloley went by the nickname "Gog". He had studied at the Islington Arts and Media School in north London and was attending City and Islington College.
Sloley disappeared two days before his 17th birthday. Sloley was described as someone who dressed smartly and was not scruffy. He liked football and eating traditional West Indian food such as fried plantain, dumplings and porridge.
His parents were separated, and he had three sisters: Tasha, Tazrah and Lattina. Sloley's father, Christopher, died in 2014 without learning of his son's fate.
Disappearance
Sloley had been staying at a friend's house in Edmonton, north London. He left there around noon on 2 August 2008 to return home for his birthday, but never arrived. When he disappeared he had little money and no change of clothes. Sloley did not have his passport with him. Sloley had a mobile phone with him but it stopped connecting when he went missing. His disappearance was uncharacteristic.
Police found nothing to indicate where Sloley may have gone. "It's like he disappeared off the face of the planet," one officer said in 2012. No trace of Sloley was ever recovered from CCTV footage.
Subsequent investigation
In September 2009 a possible sighting was reported in Ilford, east London, but has never been confirmed. In October 2009 the charity Missing People and supermarket Iceland arranged for Sloley's story and photo to appear on milk cartons. Sloley's was one of the first cases to be publicised in such a manner, and he was featured on nearly 13.5 million milk cartons.
In July 2015, Sloley's mother Nerissa Tivy was surprised to learn that police had received numerous reports of sightings in 2009. Tivy stated that she had met with police a number of times and they had never told her about this list.
In September 2017 Mick Neville, retired head of the Metropolitan Police's Central Images Unit, drew comparisons between Sloley's disappearance and that of another bright maths student who disappeared without a trace in London. Andrew Gosden was 14 when he disappeared in 2007, less than a year before Sloley. Gosden's last known location was King's Cross, and when Sloley disappeared he was thought to have been on his way to Islington, which is two miles from King's Cross. "It raises the question on whether there is a serial killer on the prowl? ...the potential links between these cases need to be recognised," said Neville.
In September 2019, the Metropolitan Police released an updated e-fit depicting Sloley as he may have looked at that time. It was reported that there had been no use of Sloley's national insurance, bank account or passport in the intervening 11 years. Detective Constable Tom Boom of the Missing Persons Unit stated that there was no evidence of harm but the case had gone cold and there were no major leads.
Media
In 2023 in August he was the subject of a three episode podcast Where is Alex? and in November he featured in episode 4 of Vanished series 2.
See also
References
- ^ Hodgkin, Emily (11 September 2015). "Police search for teen missing from Finsbury Park for seven years". Islington Gazette. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ "Renewed appeal into disappearance of teenager". Mynewsdesk. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ Gruner, Peter (25 September 2009). "Islington News: Alexander Sloley". thecnj.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ Couvée, Koos (30 June 2017). "'Someone, somewhere knows something about missing Alex'". Camden New Journal. Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- "Help us find Alexander Sloley". missingpeople.org.uk. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ "New e-fit of missing teen issued 11 years on". bbc.com. 13 September 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- ^ Finch, Emily (20 September 2019). "A decade on, mum's plea to find missing Alex". Camden New Journal. Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ^ "Alexander Sloley's mother hopes to stage event highlighting plight of missing children". Islington Tribune. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
- Randall, David (11 October 2009). "The missing: Each year, 275,000 Britons disappear". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
- Cooper, Joe (25 September 2015). "Holloway mum's fury after learning of 10 sightings of her missing teenage son". Islington Tribune. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ McMahon, James (30 August 2018). "The Strange Disappearance of Andrew Gosden". Vice. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.