A teen who disappeared nearly 25 years ago in West Auckland is once more in the spotlight.
YouTube / Britain's Got Talent
A woman whose son vanished in West Auckland bush nearly 25 years ago has sung for her lost son in one of Britain's biggest talent shows.
The Missing People Choir left audience and judges of Britain's Got Talent in tears at the weekend after a spellbinding musical performance dedicated to their children who had all disappeared without a trace.
The parent choir sang I Miss You, written for Lee Boxell after vanishing on his way to a football match nearly 30 years ago, and Madeleine McCann who went missing in Portugal in 2007.
Quentin Godwin, bottom left, with his family.
During the song images of their missing children were projected behind on a giant screen.
Included on that tragic roll 18-year-old schoolboy Quentin "Q" Godwin who walked out of his Titirangi home on May 20, 1992 and despite extensive searches remains missing.
His mum, Sarah Godwin, who has since shifted back to England, has never accepted her son is dead.
Sarah Godwin told Britain's Got Talent the choir was a place where everyone understood each other's pain and an important avenue of support.
"My son Quentin went missing when he was 18, just walked away from the family home one afternoon after school and was never seen again," Godwin told the show.
"Having the support of each other makes us stronger, sitting here together makes us stronger and singing together makes us super strong.
"The choir is energising, warming, safe, moving - beyond words. We can each feel our own love and sadness and pain, but we are there for each other and somehow it becomes joyful, too."
Quentin Godwin during high school years.
Schoolboy Quentin Godwin left his Titirangi home in May 1992 and has never been seen since. Photo / Supplied
Godwin is still trying to find out what happened to her son dedicating this year's 25th anniversary as an important milestone to find answers.
In 2014, more than two decades after his death, an inquest found Quentin had died despite his body not found.
"2017 is the year in which I shall try my hardest to get the allegations investigated further and in greater depth. I want to establish what happened and if at all possible, to have some final proof of Quentin's fate," she wrote on her qismissing website.
She wrote Quentin had good friends and loved the outdoors. He was headed for his after-school job the day he disappeared.
Despite scouring the bush, land and beaches and extensive publicity, including prime time television show Crimewatch and a documentary on missing people, he was never seen again.
There were rumours and sightings but none could be verified and the case grew cold.
Age enhanced photo of Quentin Godwin.
Then in 2015 the family were given information that her son met a violent death. An initial investigation into the fresh evidence was stalled after people named denied any involvement.
On the website she wrote her hope for this year was that her son's cold case might suddenly become warm again with memories jogged and important information surfacing.
Since Quentin's mysterious disappearance Godwin had dedicated herself to raising the profile of missing people, working on campaigns, and campaigning for improved legislative support for families.
Godwin this morning told the Herald she was now under contract with the show and unable to speak directly to media but was thrilled at the widespread effect of the performance.
