Can i sue a private individual for not taking responsibility for parcel lost in transit?

I bought a iphone 4s 16gb from a private individual who i met through craigslist. I paid her via bank transfer and now the parcel is lost in transit, i assume because its been 10 days. The seller didn't send it on tracked or signed for delivery, just a normal first class parcel. She lives 32 miles away from me, hence we decided to do bank transfer. I can't go upto her because she lives outside of london and i live inside. Can i go to small claims court and claim for my money back.

Yes you can. The reality is no one is going to send a $450 item without some form of proof/tracking. The obvious option is that it was never sent and you got duped. In the future use paypal which offers protection in these scenarios. This individual purposely got you to use a bank transfer because their no means of obtaining a refund.

This "private individual" probably used a fake name and account.

The item remains the seller responsibility until it is delivered to the seller - so if it doesn't arrive she is liable to refund you, and you could take her to the samll claims court if she fails to do so. However, Royal Mail do not consider a package lost until 21 days after it has been posted, so the sender can't get compensation from them until that time. She needs confirmation from Royal Mail that they have lost the package - because she is not obliged to give you the refund if the item is still on its way to you.

By the way, I hope you have the sellers name and address (and have confirmed that it is genuine) because you can't take anyone to court without that.

If you did bank transfer to an actual bank, then you can find out who they are. The bottom line is you NEVER do a wire transfer when buying over the net, thats an obvious scam every time.