Claudia Lawrence: 10 years after going missing what happened to York woman?

Claudia Lawrence: 10 years after going missing what happened to York woman?

A decade ago, Claudia Lawrence spoke to both of her parents on the phone. It was the last time anyone saw or spoke to her - and her body has never been found. There is no crime scene.

A number of men in their fifties were arrested but never charged, and despite TV appeals and searches the case remains unsolved.

In 2015, a Sky reporter said he had been "warned off" the case, and there has even been speculation that double murderer Christopher Halliwell may have been responsible.

Ms Lawrence did not have social media, a computer, or the internet on her phone - cutting off lines of inquiry that are now common when people go missing.


Police still hope for a breakthrough, while a spokesman for her father has insisted "someone knows something but the something is being withheld".

Peter Lawrence told Sky News: "Sometimes it feels like yesterday, and sometimes it feels much more like 10 years since Claudia disappeared.

Image: Peter Lawrence says it is getting very difficult to believe his daughter could still be alive

"It was so sudden and she was such a close part of our lives that the impact was instant."

He now says it is increasingly hard to believe Ms Lawrence, 35, could still be alive, but her mother said last year she believes she was abducted.

Here is how the mysterious disappearance of Claudia Lawrence unfolded.

2009

Ms Lawrence is last seen in York at 3.05pm, walking back towards her home on Heworth Road.

She speaks to her parents on the phone in the evening and seems in good spirits. She texts her friend at 8.23pm.

Reported missing

Ms Lawrence doesn't turn up for her 6am shift as a chef at the University of York - a walk of several miles from her house.

Potential leads include a man who became known as the "left-handed smoker", seen with a woman with brown hair at 5.35am on Ms Lawrence's route to work.

The pair have never been traced.

A cyclist also reports seeing a middle-aged man standing outside Ms Lawence's house between 6.45am and 6.55am.

Image: Police released sketchy CCTV of her last-known movements

Police later said they believe Ms Lawrence had left for work that morning because her bed had been made and it appeared that she had eaten breakfast and brushed her teeth.

Her mobile phone, a silver Samsung D900, is believed to have been deliberately turned off at 12.10pm.

The phone, as well as her blue and grey Karrimor rucksack in which she carried her chef's whites, have never been found.

Ms Lawrence later fails to meet her friend in the pub and her father, a solicitor, reports her missing the next day.

Father's appeal

With 30 to 40 officers looking for her, Peter Lawrence appears in front of media and calls her disappearance a "living nightmare".

Police say they can't rule out the possibility she has been abducted.

In the coming days, extra officers are drafted in, with around 100 involved and CCTV released of her last movements.

Claudia's 'mysterious' relationships

A £10,000 reward is offered as police say the 35-year-old's disappearance is now a murder investigation.

Detectives appear on the Crimewatch programme and say that some of Ms Lawrence's relationships had "complexity and mystery to them".

"We believe there are certain areas of Claudia's life that remain a mystery," said Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway.

"It is apparent that some of her relationships are complicated and are not known to her family," he added.

Image: Police said Ms Lawrence appeared to have relationships that her family did not know about

Ms Lawrence's sister, parents and best friend also appear in front of the cameras.

"I just can't see she was involved recently in a relationship that we didn't know about when we were all seeing so much of her," Peter Lawrence told the programme.

2010

Police scale down search

Police say they will cut the number of officers on the case.

North Yorkshire Police's assistant chief constable says the decision has been taken "after several months of further review and detailed scrutiny".

Image: In March 2010 police searched a field close to York University, where Ms Lawrence worked

He insists the investigation remains open and will be "continuously reviewed" should new leads emerge.

2013

New forensic search at house

Forensics officers begin a detailed new examination of Ms Lawrence's house after police announce a full review of the case.

Image: Police found unidentified fingerprints after a new forensic search of her house in 2013

New techniques are used to try to find evidence that was previously hidden, as well as reviewing material already looked at.

No evidence of blood or a struggle is found - and no crime scene has ever been identified.

2014

Unknown fingerprints and DNA

Police again appear on Crimewatch and reveal they have found unknown fingerprints in Ms Lawrence's house.

"DNA material" was also found on other items, as well as the profile of a man on a cigarette end in her Vauxhall Corsa.

Image: Forensics teams found other DNA material in their search of the property

Detectives say there may be a link to the "left-handed smoker" seen with a woman on the morning Ms Lawrence disappeared.

Police say they still have no prime suspect.

However, they release CCTV of a man they want to trace who told Co-op staff in 2009 that he knew Ms Lawrence or used to work with her.

First murder arrest

A 59-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of murder.

He is released on police bail and eventually released without charge six months later.

2015

'Suspicious' man and alleyway search

A fingertip search using specialist officers and a police dog begins at the end of February in an alleyway behind Ms Lawrence's home in York.

Police say they have hopes of uncovering a "significant" lead.

Police carry out fingertip search of alley behind house

A few weeks later, on the sixth anniversary of her disappearance, police release CCTV of a "man acting suspiciously" near her home on the evening before she was reported missing.

The footage was recorded about an hour before she spoke to her parents on the phone.

Second man arrested

Another man in his 50s is arrested on suspicion of murder, but no charges are brought and he is released on bail the next day.

Three more men in their fifties arrested

Three more local men, all in their 50s, are arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail.

Police confirm the arrests are linked to the 23 March arrest.

Police prepare evidence

The four men are released from bail as detectives prepare a file of evidence against them to see if there is enough to bring charges.

The file is sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in mid-December.

2016

'Back to square one'

The men will not be charged after the CPS decides there is not enough evidence for a "realistic prospect of conviction".

Ms Lawrence's family say it is "depressing" and that they are "back to square one" but police promise that the case will never close.

Image: Police said people were holding back vital information

"I am left with the inescapable conclusion that this case could still be solved if only people were honest with us," says Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn.

"The fact that they are not is agonising for Claudia's family and they should be ashamed of themselves."

2017

Search scaled down

Police say they will now only look into "new and compelling" information on the case as the investigation moves to a "reactive" status.

A spokesman for Peter Lawrence tells Sky News "it is an ongoing waiting game for somebody to man-up, woman-up, to spill the beans".

January 2017 - Investigation scaled back

2018

Cigarette DNA search draws a blank

Four years after unidentified DNA was found on a cigarette in Ms Lawrence's car, police finally say they haven't been able to make any breakthrough.

They had been travelling the UK to try to get DNA from people who have similar profiles to the one found.

Image: Unknown DNA was found in Claudia Lawrence's car. Pic: North Yorkshire Police

Claims that Christopher Halliwell - who murdered Becky Godden and Sian O'Callaghan - may have killed Ms Lawrence have been dismissed by police, who say there is nothing to indicate a link.

The detective who caught Halliwell told the Sunday Express in 2016 that the killer's father "lived a few streets away from where Claudia went missing".

Image: Police have said there is nothing to indicate a link with double killer Christopher Halliwell

"It fits his pattern of behaviour, abducting women walking alone either late at night or early in the morning," said said Det Supt Steve Fulcher.

2019

'It's more difficult to believe'

A few days before the 10th anniversary of his daughter's disappearance, Peter Lawrence says it's "very difficult" now to believe she could still be alive.

Missing chef's mum: 'I think we will get an answer'

"It just keeps going on and on, of course, because of not knowing what happened, and it is the not knowing which has always been the worst part about it."

Mr Lawrence got an OBE last year for his work on "Claudia's Law", which allows the families of missing people to deal with their affairs.