Missing Kiwi teen’s cold case takes centre stage in Britain
The mother of a teenager who went missing in West Auckland 25 years ago has paid tribute to her son on Britain’s Got Talent.
On May 20 in 1992, Quentin Godwin walked out the door of his Titirangi home after telling his family he was heading to his afterschool job. He never came back.
As part of the The Missing People Choir, his mother Sarah Godwin appeared on British television to plead for more information about her son’s disappearance. The show aired on Saturday night, UK time.
‘‘He just walked away from the family home one afternoon after school and was never seen again,’’ she told viewers.
The choir is made up of parents and family members of missing people.
The Missing People Choir sung I Miss You, a song that left judges and members of the audience in tears.
Images and details about the group’s missing family members appeared on screen during the performance. The group’s lead said he hoped someone would know something about at least one of the missing people. The choir was a support mechanism for the families.
‘‘Having the support of each other makes us stronger, sitting here together makes us stronger and singing together makes us super strong,’’ Godwin said.
She had since moved back to England after her son’s disappearance. She told the British Parliament in 2011 about the struggles, confusion and guilt that families with missing children go through.
Speaking to media in 2011, she said Quentin had left behind a letter which could be read as a suicide note, and the police stepped in and did ‘‘as much as they could’’.
The coroner declared Quentin Godwin dead in July 2014. His cause of death was ‘‘unknown’’ and no body had been found.
His mother maintained Quentin may still be alive. After the coroner’s report, she wrote: ‘‘So the coroner has decided that ‘on the balance of probabilities’ he has either taken his own life or come to an untimely end somehow. Yes, that’s obviously a possibility but with absolutely no proof it isn’t enough reason for me to believe he is dead. There are too many questions unanswered.’’
In 2017 she hoped to amplify efforts to find what happened to her son, she wrote on her website dedicated to ‘‘Q’’.
The Britain’s Got Talent judges applauded the choir’s bravery and strength for singing about their missing family members. With unanimous approval, they got through to the next round.