Disappearance of Alex Sloley

Sloley went by the nickname "Gog".[3] He had studied at the Islington Arts and Media School in north London and was attending City and Islington College.[4]

Sloley disappeared two days before his 17th birthday.[5][1] Sloley was described as someone who dressed smartly and was not scruffy.[6] He liked football and eating traditional West Indian food such as fried plantain, dumplings and porridge.[7]

His parents were separated, and he had three sisters: Tasha, Tazrah and Lattina.[8] Sloley's father, Christopher, died in 2014 without learning of his son's fate.[7]

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.[8] When he disappeared he had little money and no change of clothes.[1] Sloley did not have his passport with him.[7] Sloley had a mobile phone with him but it stopped connecting when he went missing.[7] His disappearance was uncharacteristic.[2]

Police found nothing to indicate where Sloley may have gone.[3] "It's like he disappeared off the face of the planet," one officer said in 2012.[4] No trace of Sloley was ever recovered from CCTV footage.[2]

In September 2009 a possible sighting was reported in Ilford, east London, but has never been confirmed.[3] In October 2009 the charity Missing People and supermarket Iceland arranged for Sloley's story and photo to appear on milk cartons.[3] 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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11] Andrew Gosden was 14 when he disappeared in 2007, less than a year before Sloley.[11] 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.[11] "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.[11]

In September 2019, the Metropolitan Police released an updated e-fit depicting Sloley as he may have looked at that time.[6] It was reported that there had been no use of Sloley's national insurance, bank account or passport in the intervening 11 years.[6][7] 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.[7]

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously: 1990–present