Claudia Lawrence | |
---|---|
Born | Claudia Elizabeth Lawrence[1] 27 February 1974 East Riding of Yorkshire, England[1] |
Disappeared | 18 March 2009 (aged 35) Heworth, York, England |
Status | Missing for 15 years, 4 months and 29 days |
Occupation | Chef |
Known for | Missing person |
Parent(s) | Peter and Joan Lawrence |
Relatives | Ali Sims (sister)[2] |
The disappearance of Claudia Lawrence is a missing person case concerning a then-35-year old British chef at the University of York.[3] The last confirmed sighting of her was on 18 March 2009, in Melrosegate, Heworth, York.[4]
Lawrence was last seen nearing her home in Heworth, York, on the afternoon of 18 March, as she returned from her work as a chef at the University of York's Goodricke College at the Roger Kirk Centre. That evening she spoke to her parents by telephone, making plans with her mother to spend Mother's Day together.[5] Lawrence later sent a text message to a friend and has not been heard from since then. The last text message from her was sent at 8:23 p.m.,[6] and her last received message, from a bar worker in Cyprus, was at 9:12 p.m.[7] Lawrence's passport and bank cards were left at her home when she went missing.[8]
Lawrence was reported missing after she failed to arrive at work for her early morning shift the following day.[6][9] Police are now treating her disappearance as a suspected murder.[10]
Speaking on the BBC's Today programme on 4 June 2009, Lawrence's father Peter said he doubted police claims that she had a secret life. He queried the comments made by Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway on BBC Crimewatch programme, specifically that parts of Claudia's life "remain a mystery" and that police believe she had "complicated relationships" that her family and friends knew nothing about.[11] He later said that he "did not recognise" his daughter after the claims that had been made about her personal life.[12]
Six weeks after Lawrence went missing, the investigation into her disappearance was reclassified from a missing person's case to a suspected murder enquiry, although police have acknowledged they have no evidence that Lawrence is dead.[13][14]
The independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers has offered a reward of £10,000 to anyone providing information which leads to the arrest and conviction of any person linked to the disappearance[5][15] but this has since been withdrawn.[16] Police have said that any past personal acquaintances of Lawrence have a limited time to come forward "in confidence."[17] Police have received over 1,200 calls offering information, and an appeal for help was made by Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.[5][13] In early June 2009, a reconstruction of Lawrence's last known movements was featured in a Crimewatch appeal.[18] The feature generated more than 60 telephone calls.[19] Also in June, 100 days after his daughter went missing, Peter Lawrence launched a YouTube appeal for information.[3] In the appeal, he stated his belief that the internet was vital in the search.[20] In late August 2009, police and the Lawrence family used the annual Whitby Regatta in North Yorkshire to publicise the campaign.[9]
In September 2009, police revealed that the search for Lawrence had been extended to Cyprus.[21] Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway stated that Lawrence "knew several people who live on the island" and that she may have "received job offers" while there.[22] Galloway also stated that some people who had been interviewed had been "reluctant and less than candid" when spoken to, and that a team of officers had been sent to Cyprus to interview people who Lawrence met there.[8] It was reported that the last text message received by Lawrence was from a man who was on the island.[21][22]
Later in September, detectives investigating the Lawrence case made a search of an area of the university where Lawrence worked.[23] In October 2009, police revealed they were looking for the driver of a "rusty white van" who was seen trying to talk to women on Lawrence's route to work in the days before she disappeared.[24]
On 24 March 2010, police began searching areas of Heslington in York, based on new information received "in the last few days".[25] On 24 March, land near to a children's play area, near a muddy farm track, was searched, and on 25 March the search was relocated to a field near to the university, an area of land which is bordered by a playing field and student accommodation.[26] It was later stated that police did not find any new leads from these searches and nothing of significance had been discovered.[27]
In late December 2011, the family of Claudia asked that the unknown person who had placed a wreath on the front door of Claudia's home each Christmas from 2009 onwards to stop placing them, as it was bringing further grief.[28]
In June 2013, North Yorkshire Police announced the £300,000 creation of a new Major Crime Unit, set-up to ease the burden on day-to-day policing. Based in Harrogate, the MCU was to be tasked from October 2013 to handle crimes including rape and kidnap, and review cold cases.[29] In July 2013, the force said the unit would assess several "stalled" cases when it opened in October, including the disappearance of a Harrogate woman in 1997 and that of Claudia Lawrence.[30]
The MCU subsequently assessed the case, and carried out new forensic searches at her home on Heworth Road. Using what were described as "advanced techniques not available in 2009",[31] the MCU found the additional fingerprints and a man's DNA on a cigarette end in her car. Work surrounding her Samsung D900 mobile phone showed from cell site activity that she was in the Acomb area of York in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, and that the phone was deliberately turned off by someone at about 12:10 GMT on Thursday, 19 March 2009.[31]
On the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, a new appeal was made on the BBC's Crimewatch, which aired on 19 March 2014.[31] CCTV footage, recovered in 2009, showed a silver Ford Focus hatchback car, manufactured between 1998 and 2004, driving along Heworth Road. The car’s brake lights come on, as it approaches level with Claudia’s house.[32]
On 13 May 2014, a 59 year old man was arrested by North Yorkshire Police on suspicion of Claudia's murder. Police said that further arrests could not be ruled out.[33]
Police admitted there were similarities with the cases of Melanie Hall and Joanna Yeates, two other young, blonde British women who disappeared in 1996 and 2010 respectively, but said that they have not yet found direct evidence to link them.[34] When a young woman's body was discovered at Christmas 2010, Lawrence's father wondered whether his daughter had been found, but that victim was later identified as Yeates.[35]
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