MISSING chef Claudia Lawrence's mobile phone could hold a clue to a her murder, it emerged today.

Sources close to the police investigation believe it suggests she was killed by someone she knew, perhaps in her social circle.

4 Claudia Lawrence was last seen in March 2009, with questions about her disappearance still left unanswered Credit: PA:Press Association

The Times reports that evidence shows her mobile phone was active near her home four hours after her disappearance, having failed to turn up for work at York University ten years ago on March 19, 2009.

Although no body has ever been found, North Yorkshire Police have been treating her disappearance as a suspected murder.

Yet despite a £1.5m investigation what happened to her remains a mystery.

She did not have a computer, wasn’t on social media and there’s no CCTV near her home.

But detectives have one lead.

Data extracted from the mobile phone network has driven the inquiry team's suspicion that Claudia was attacked by someone she knew.

And it suggests that she was not taken far.

Her last call was from her manager at 10am who called to find out why she hadn't turned up.

'KILLER LOCAL AND NO STRANGER'

The source said: "Her mobile phone never left the area of York.

"This is part of the reason why the police believe she fell victim to an attack by somebody that she knew who was familiar with the area."

Colin Sutton, ex-detective chief inspector who probed mobile phone data while investigating serial killer Levi Bellfield, said: “What may have happened is that the phone rings out at 10am and goes to voicemail simply because there is nobody there.

"Then whoever it is, possibly the suspect, looks at the phone at 12.10pm, realises there is a missed call, realises the phone is still switched on and then switches it off.

“Once realising Claudia has a missed call, the most likely thing you would think a suspect would do is smash it or break it or throw it in the river, which would provide the network with an implicit detachment record.

“However, that didn’t happen. It appears what we get here is an explicit detachment, meaning the suspect had the calmness of mind to think: ‘I’d better switch the phone off in the normal way.’"

4 Claudia Lawrence's possible route home Credit: Google Maps

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Phone data shows she was in the Acomb area of York weeks before she vanished. Police are trying to trace “a person or persons” she may have been in touch with from there.

Her phone has never been found.

North Yorkshire police declined to comment on the specifics of the case.

TEN YEARS SINCE CLAUDIA'S DISAPPEARANCE 2009 March 18 - Miss Lawrence speaks with her parents over the phone and, at 8.23pm, sends her friend a text. She has not been seen or heard from since. March 19 - Miss Lawrence's father, Peter, contacts North Yorkshire Police after his daughter fails to keep an arrangement to meet a friend at the Nags Head pub. She also fails to attend work. March 23 - Mr Lawrence describes his daughter's disappearance as a "living nightmare" during a news conference in York. April 24 - Detectives say that Miss Lawrence's disappearance is being treated as a suspected murder investigation. A £10,000 reward is offered for information that could lead to the conviction of those responsible. 2010 May 6 - Mr Lawrence calls for an urgent independent inquiry into the police investigation of his daughter's disappearance and suspected murder. July 29 - Police confirm they are reducing the number of officers dedicated to the inquiry into Miss Lawrence's disappearance. 2013 October 29 - A new forensic search of Miss Lawrence's home is announced as police launch a fresh review of the case. 2014 March 19 - Five years on from Miss Lawrence's disappearance, officers discover at her home the fingerprints of people who have still not come forward to the investigation. May 13 - A 59-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of murder. He is released on police bail and eventually released without charge on November 17 2014. 2015 March 23 - A man in his 50s is arrested on suspicion of murdering Miss Lawrence and is released on police bail the following day. April 22 - Three more men, all in their 50s and from the York area, are arrested on suspicion of murder and are released on bail. September 17 - A file of evidence on four men arrested on suspicion of murder is sent by North Yorkshire Police to the Crown Prosecution service (CPS) so it can consider whether to bring charges. 2016 March 8 - Police say the CPS has decided the four men will not face charges. 2017 January 17 - Mr Lawrence says he is "hugely depressed and disappointed" as the investigation into his daughter's disappearance is scaled down. 2019 March - Nearly a decade on from her disappearance, Miss Lawrence has still not been found. Her father says "it's very difficult" to conceive of her still being alive.

4 Claudia's disappearance sparked one of the country's biggest murder inquiries Credit: PA:Press Association

4 Claudia's father Peter admits it's getting harder to believe she's alive after 10 years Credit: PA:Press Association

Father of Claudia Lawrence speaks from his home in York nearly 10 years on from chef's disappearance

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