Luckily her dad had continued paying the mortgage but hadn't had any tenants etc all in the hope she'd come back and still have somewhere to live. Around the time Claudia disappeared, there was a suspicious character caught on CCTV, but over the years nothing has. But those concerned were all released and none were charged.[36]. The manager took no further action. The mother of missing Claudia Lawrence has said she is in "utter shock" over the new police search for her daughter. The portrayal of her has definitely harmed the investigation . [40][41] Police drained one of the lakes on site to allow a fingertip examination of the lake's bed. This blog is dedicated to the late, best-selling authors, Reg Mckay, Ann Rule & my furbaby, Freddie Mercury. Cooper telephoned Claudia's father Peter on 20 March to report the situation. York is a lovely place with some great scenery but, as with anywhere, there are some rough areas. Her mother said that Claudia was going to celebrate Mothers Day with her and seemed cheerful and relaxed when they were talking over the phone. In his book, Stephen Fulcher stated that Halliwell had links to Yorkshire because his father lived there, however, his father lived in Huddersfield, some distance from York, and his father had died several years before Lawrence's disappearance. The search was reportedly prompted by new evidence although police would not state what that new evidence was. Peter (Claudia's father) sadly passed away earlier this year without fully getting to the bottom of what happened to his daughter despite years of tiresome searching. CLAUDIA Lawrence disappeared a decade ago, sparking a 1million manhunt with cops pouring through phone records and more than 2,500 statements. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number, I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Evening Standard. 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. Claudia Lawrence is a freelance journalist. Claudia's story was front page news and everyone wanted to know what happened to her and if she would ever be found. Im sure most of you have heard of this case. OCallaghan left a Swindon nightclub at near 3am and started the 20 minute walk to her home. Im pretty sure the police and the family know more than everyone else. Picture credit: It didn't help matters when the investigators kept saying that she had a ''secret life''. When did Peter . Police believe Miss Lawrence who was last seen on March 18 2009 has been murdered, although no body has ever been discovered. The 35-year-old chef vanished after failing to turn up for an early-morning shift at a University of York canteen on March 19, 2009. . [25] Nothing of significance was discovered. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. A brilliant article on a truly mysterious case. We pay for videos too. https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/claudia-lawrence-investigation/ theres a huge separate section dedicated to the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence on the official website of the police of North Yorkshire, it contains quite a few summaries about each further step in the investigation. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Podcast Coming Soon!! He also alluded to the fact that the police kept the location of the phone back. I recently had a look back over the case and realised that it's been 11 years since the beautiful, 35 year old Claudia Lawrence had vanished from her home in York, England. The bed was made and there were unwashed dishes in the kitchen sink, suggesting she had eaten breakfast. Yeah, basically this. You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. [17] In late August 2009, NYP and the Lawrence family used the annual Whitby Regatta in North Yorkshire to publicise the campaign. That meant the house was pretty much the same Dna-collection-wise as it was when Claudia went missing. I also believe that she died shortly after her disappearance. However, NYP officers checked her route to work and sent out a public request for information. I remember a journalist mentioning that in all his decades of working as a reporter on missing persons cases he had never faced such hostility from the locals in the area or been literally threatened and warned off covering the story before as he had been with this one. The only significant items missing were her mobile phone, a set of hair straighteners and a rucksack which she normally used to carry her chef's whites to and from work. Cooper then attempted to contact Lawrence by telephone. She was raised in the Hewton area of York by her father Peter Lawrence, a solicitor, and mother Joan. At 9:12pm a text was sent to her phone from a male friend in Cyprus, there was no response from Claudia. A See more Private I dont believe they were as close of friends as a few of them make out to have been. [47] Both NYP and Wiltshire Police have stated that there is no direct evidence linking Halliwell to the Lawrence case, and Wiltshire Police have disclosed that they have CCTV evidence of Halliwell buying petrol at a petrol station in Swindon on the evening before Lawrence disappeared. They considered it likely that she had decided to absent herself and would reappear after a few days. I think the guy on CCTV is a red herring, personally. The change in the law means families of missing loved ones will be able to take control of their financial affairs in their absence. Distraught Joan Lawrence, 76, said it was impossible for cops to investigate convicted killer Halliwell with "such a small amount of money". A fresh appeal for answers about missing Claudia Lawrence has been made on the eve of the anniversary of her disappearance. They also found a male's DNA in her car on a ciggarette and some additional fingerprints but nothing came of this either. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. Detectives also revealed there had been a reported sighting of Claudia at Melrosegate Bridge, with a woman spotted alongside a hooded man. 50 cash with friend referrals at Virgin Mobile, 15% off extra plans with this Vodafone promo, 50% off your 1st 3 months - Audible promo, 50% off selected memberships using this Ancestry discount, Save up to 20% off your rental when you book 14 days in advance at Sixt, Peril: Potter sends Chelsea dressing room message amid huge pressure, Arteta reveals why he didnt speak to Saliba for a week at Arsenal, Conte return date confirmed as Tottenham face massive week, Moyes responds to Keane criticism of Rice with bold prediction, Liverpool duo to follow Firmino out of Anfield as club look to refresh, Duke and Duchess of Sussex asked to vacate their UK home Frogmore Cottage, Flying Scotsman steams into Edinburgh to mark centenary, New Simon Armitage poem to mark 100 years of Flying Scotsman, Why Phoebe Smith wants to make the outdoors more inclusive, Belgian mother who killed 5 children euthanised 16 years after deaths, 300 new Ulez cameras rolled out but none in rebel boroughs, Estate agent wins legal fight with interior designer over 10m sale, Mother and daughter found dead in flat months after last being seen, Messages show Hancocks reaction after Gina Coladangelo CCTV leak. Claudia Lawrences mother appeals for help 13 years after disappearance, Claudia Lawrence: police find no new clues in lake search, Police search quarry near York for Claudia Lawrence remains, Claudia Lawrence: timeline of her disappearance, Claudia Lawrence: renewed call for information on woman missing since 2009, Father of missing chef Claudia Lawrence dies at 74, Claudia Lawrence case fits behaviour pattern of Christopher Halliwell. I remember looking at this pretty woman and wondering what had happened to her. Personally I have never been to Yorkshire and I dont know anyone from that area, so I cant make any statements about that region. NYP was initially slow to act on grounds that Lawrence was not a vulnerable person and there was no obvious evidence of violence. The route from her home to place of work was checked at an early stage and no trace of her was found. This case has a lot of complexity to it but I truly believe that those who call themselves Claudias Best Friends are involved in this case and they know exactly what happens to poor Claudia. Unsolved 2009 disappearance of 35 year-old woman from York, England, "Everything we know about the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence, 11 years on the day she vanished", "Peter Lawrence dies 12 years on from his daughter's disappearance, a case which has haunted her family", "Jealous partner theory on missing Claudia", "Claudia Lawrence mystery has dark undercurrents", "Inside Claudia's house - evidence to support she left for work but hair straighteners missing", "Hunt for missing chef Claudia Lawrence now a murder case", "Police investigate claims linking Claudia Lawrence and murderer Christopher Halliwell", "Crimestoppers offers 10k reward for Claudia Lawrence case", "Claudia Lawrence's father in YouTube video plea", "Hunt for missing chef Claudia Lawrence extends to Cyprus", "Holiday flings could hold clues to missing chef Claudia Lawrence", "York district searched in Claudia Lawrence inquiry", "Family hope over new Claudia Lawrence search", "No leads from Claudia Lawrence searches in York", "Claudia Lawrence: Timeline of her disappearance and suspected murder", "North Yorkshire Police plan 300k major crimes unit", "Major Crime Unit to review disappearance", "BBC One - Crimewatch, 19/03/2014, Claudia Lawrence CCTV 2", "Claudia Murder Suspect Released Without Charge", "Acomb pub landlord speaks out over arrest", "Three drinking friends all arrested", "Suspects won't be charged over Claudia Lawrence 'murder' - angry police blame 'lying witnesses', "Claudia Lawrence case remains unsolved despite exhaustive efforts", "Claudia Lawrence: Former gravel pits searched in missing chef case", "Claudia Lawrence: New police search in gravel pits eight miles from home of missing York University chef", "The eight Claudia Lawrence suspects and what happened to them", "Lake drained in hunt for missing chef Claudia Lawrence last seen 12 years ago", "Police drain lake in search for Claudia Lawrence", "Linda Razzell murder: Christopher Halliwell link dismissed", "How BBC documentary backfired on wife-killer Glyn Razzell's hopes of clearing his name", "Former Halliwell murder case detective releases memoirs", Mum of missing woman fears Christopher Halliwell may be involved in daughter's disappearance, Mum of Claudia Lawrence urges police to investigate killer cabbie amid new search for daughter, the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disappearance_of_Claudia_Lawrence&oldid=1142526010, People associated with the University of York, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. [4] Lawrence was discreet about this and her family knew little about her relationships with men. None of them wanted to be dragged into the case either. They have endured unrelenting anguish and trauma throughout this time. At one point, detectives believed she had been with 12 lovers over five years, with some of them married. This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 22:18. Claudia was always popular and very pretty, as she grew older she was never short of admirers and had plenty of friends, male and female. This comment has been removed by the author. This possibility was quickly dismissed. As time went on, Claudia's family and friends never gave up appealing for information to help find her. But in January 2017 officers said they were scaling back the probe, leaving her mum devastated that she may never find out what happened to her daughter. North Yorkshire police have been treating the case as a suspected murder investigation. I tend to think that something happened between 10PM and midnight on the 18-th of March, 2009. News and entertainment worth sharing York and North Yorkshire. Lawrence's solicitor father Peter campaigned for the law to be modified in order to allow the appointment of guardians for the affairs of missing people. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Please do the right thing, come forward and speak to me.. In his 2017 book, Catching a Serial Killer: My hunt for murderer Christopher Halliwell, Stephen Fulcher, the senior investigating officer in the murder of Sian O'Callaghan, suggests there are similarities between the Lawrence and O'Callaghan cases. Im not sure what it was about Claudia that caught the public attention so much but, unfortunately, I dont think shes alive and probably wasnt for very long after going missing. They even issued a statement saying "We know there are people who know what happened to Claudia, but they are keeping quiet." I'm excited to announce that I am currently working on a true crime podcast which will feature cases that I have already featured here on my blog as well as new cases + guests & more! Lawrence had previously arranged to meet her friend Suzy Cooper at The Nag's Head that night. [30] CCTV footage, recovered in 2009, showed a silver Ford Focus hatchback car, manufactured between 1998 and 2004, driving along Heworth Road. She also sent a text message to a friend at 8:23pm but nothing after that. The police took down the reward for the 10,000 stating that time had run out for people to come forward anonymously and they were also annoyed about the fact that the people who Claudia did have some form of contact with, were not being cooperative. View our online Press Pack. If you are in the UK and happen to have any information about this case, please pass it on to the police (no matter how small) by dialling 101 (North Yorkshire Police), select option 1 and pass the details onto the Force Control Room, quoting ''Claudia Lawrence''. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. She spoke to her mother that evening and made plans with her for Mother's Day which was that Sunday. October - Claudia's mum slammed the peanuts 40,000 budget to probe murder suspect Christopher Halliwell. It has probably been discussed on Reddit several times already, but I took a glance at a few subreddits this case could be relevant to and found out that there were just a few posts and the most popular one had about 90 comments which I think is not much. What's even more sinister is that her mobile phone was deliberately switched off at 12:08pm by someone, could it have been Claudia? The hours at her new job suited her fine as she started early and would be finished by lunchtime. This one isn't really much of a mystery anymore. Claudia's dad was 74 and died on February 11 at St Leonard's Hospice in York following a short illness, his family said in a statement. Claudia was A 35 Year old who enjoyed the company of middle aged men who were reasonably well off and in the main were already involved in a long term relationship, married or had a girlfriend.. She was reported to have engaged in a series of short-term relationships often conducted on a concurrent basis. But the young woman was never heard from again leaving officers desperately probing into her past, her relationships and her work life in an effort to find her. The 35-year-old, who worked as a chef at the University of York, had spoken to. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. For whatever reason, they have maintained a silence for 12 years. [7] It was determined that the phone had been connected to a mast in the Heworth area of York throughout the morning of 19 March and up to the point it was switched off. In June 2019, ten years after Claudia's disappearance, the UK Government introduced the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017, informally known as 'Claudia's Law'. Any information we glean will be passed to the police. What happened to her? I think he disposed of the body in one of the building sites in York, or on somewhere on the Yorkshire Moors. She had previously worked in a few pubs as a chef but the late hours began to take their toll on her so she was excited when she landed a job as a chef at the University of York. A lot of people believe that Claudia either threatened to expose one of the married men or they wanted to silence her or that one of the wives had found out and took revenge. A year after her disappearance, her best friend Suzy Cooper appealed for help, saying: "We want it to end. (A missing poster outside of Claudia's home in the early stages of the investigation. One such case is the disappearance of Swindon teacher Linda Razzell on 19 March 2002 while walking to work. An appeal for help was made by John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. After moving to Heworth in 2007, Lawrence would regularly spend evenings at The Nag's Head pub[1] close to her home. Her father, Peter is a solicitor and her mother, Joan is a stay at home housewife. Police are on their third day of searching for Claudia Lawrence . You might have been burgled more times than is the norm if you lived in a predominately student area. Like the rest of the public at the time, I read the news articles and watched the Crimewatch reports and I saw how some of the public's interest in the case went from sympathetic to lacking interest. 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. I want to go into some of the details of Claudia's disappearance and other factors surrounding the case. who showed how the house had barely been touched since her daughter vanished. A 10,000 reward was offered for anyone who could come forward with any information. 5-6 King's Court, Shambles, York YO1 7LD, Selby Superbowl, Bawtry Road, Selby YO8 8NA. It is notable that OCallaghan was murdered by Halliwell on 19 March 2011 and her body was concealed. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. In recent years there have been an average of around 3,500 missing persons reports per year in the NYP area. I can imagine how they feel and this is honestly horrific, I would not want this to happen to anyone. As with some recent cold case successes, the breakthrough has come from the public and we still have confidence that this will be the case.. They arrested four men a couple years back in suspicion of murder but stated that they ran into "a lack of cooperation from witnesses". The only lead in this respect is some unknown male DNA on a cigarette found in her car. Do you still have connections to York? "Lawrence began relationships with several men whom she met while drinking in the pub, and her father admitted that the liaisons had created 'awkward situations' with her lovers' partners". I exclude the possibility of suicide simply because she had no reason for it. The dreadful lies told over Claudia Lawrence's . A DECADE on from the day Claudia Lawrence was last seen alive, the detective heading up the investigation to find her believes answers still lie in We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Peter had a spare key for her house and was worried sick, he raced over to the house and his fears were realised when he found that Claudia was nowhere to be seen. Peter Lawrence, who devoted himself to helping others with missing relatives, died after never knowing what happened to his daughter. Agreed, I think the police have a decent understanding of what happened to her but can't prove it currently. A licensed taxi driven by Halliwell pulled up beside her and she was offered a ride to her home. The date was said to be significant to wannabe serial killer Halliwell whose former garden in Swindon was dug up by cops in the search for more victims. Replies analysing and speculating over the mystery and possible explanations are encouraged. Police have launched search in gravel pits in York for missing chef Claudia Lawrence, who vanished in 2009 Miss Lawrence failed to arrive for work at the University of York on March 18, 2009. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/claudia-s-law-to-lift-families-of-missing-people-out-of-legal-limbo. More than a month after the missing person's report was opened, police upgraded the investigation to suspected murder. Talk of her being abducted on her way to work, but after seeing pictures of a man walking past her home several times the night she sent her last texts, makes me wonder if she was lured outside her. The Claudia Lawrence case may ring a few bells for those of you who live in the UK and quite possibly beyond as it has been covered on quite a number of blogs and Youtube channels. I was expecting to hear that he'd been charged but the case was dropped. This might be a little bit off topic, but recently I became very interested in such stuff partially because of my girlfriend who is a criminologist and also because I felt really bored and didnt know what to do during the quarantine. Detective Superintendent Wayne Fox, the new senior investigating officer on the case, said he believes several people know, or have suspicions about, what happened to the 35-year-old when she went missing in York in 2009. I encourage anyone who has Facebook to join the group Claudia Lawrence- 11 years of lies because this group really does go deep into everything about this case. leaving officers desperately probing into her past, her relationships and her work life in an effort to find her. One of the investigators/journalists was threatened (or told "to back off"). Mum Joan Lawrence, 76, who lives alone in a North Yorkshire flat, admits that being in isolation is making the disappearance of Claudia 11 years ago "even harder to deal with". [21], Later in September, detectives made a search of an area of the University of York campus. When she didn't arrive at work her manager tried to call her but didn't get an answer. Her father says "it's very difficult" to conceive of her still being alive. Claudia was last heard from on March 18, 2009, with reports that she was last seen walking towards her home on Heworth Road. Also the fact that her phone was deliberately turned off kind of freaks me out if Im not mistaken, it was traced by the police and its location was discovered (it was several miles away from her place). Picture credit: Hi, I'm Jo, welcome to my true crime blog. York is a pretty safe place in general. North Yorkshire Police have conducted two investigations and questioned nine people in relation to Miss Lawrences disappearance and suspected murder but no charges have ever been brought. Instead of taking OCallaghan home Halliwell drove her to a secluded place where he murdered her. It was considered likely that her killer was a local man known to her. And yes, I will definitely check out the Facebook group. This is a strange one for me as grew up in the same area and am familiar with this case. She was employed as a chef at the University of York 's Goodricke College at the time of her disappearance. This campaigning eventually succeeded with the passing of "The Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017" which was introduced to Parliament as a Private Members' Bill.