18 March 2024 , 00:03
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Cold case detectives have revealed they are still hunting for answers over missing Claudia Lawrence 15 years since she disappeared.
Chef Claudia, then 35, was reported missing after she failed to report for work at the University of York in March 2009. The case was treated as a murder inquiry by North Yorkshire Police almost from the start and has become one of the most high-profile unsolved crimes of the last 20 years.
Now the force has urged people with information to "break their silence" and end her family's heartbreak. Acting Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox said: "The single barrier to unlocking the answers for Claudia's loved ones and bringing those responsible for her disappearance to justice remains the same - silence.
Claudia was 35 when she went missing (PA)
She failed to report for work at the University of York (PA)"Silence from the people who know, or may suspect, what happened to Claudia but have, so far, for reasons that are only known to them, been unable to come forward to the police or even pass on information to Crimestoppers anonymously. There may be many reasons why they have been unable to come forward,
"However, my plea to them on reaching 15 years of living with the knowledge you have is to do the right thing and make a report. You can help bring an end to the pain and uncertainty for Claudia, her mum and all who love her."
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Police have conducted two investigations and questioned nine people but no charges have ever been brought. The last major police operation in relation to the case was in 2021 when officers spent a number of days conducting an extensive search of flooded gravel pits at Sand Hutton, near York.
Police have conducted two investigations into the disappearance (Daily Mirror)Mr Fox said the investigation has been in a "reactive phase" since 2017 but is not closed. Mr Fox said: "Speaking purely as a parent, my thoughts as we enter the 15th year since Claudia Lawrence was reported missing, remain with her mum Joan. I cannot begin to understand the pain that Joan and her family feel every single day.
"For such pain and despair to continue for 15 years without knowing where your child is, or what happened to them, well that is far beyond what any mum or dad should ever have to live with."
Mr Fox said he was also thinking of Ms Lawrence's father Peter, who campaigned for his daughter to be found, but died three years ago without ever knowing what happened to her. Claudia would have celebrated her 50th birthday in February.
Mum Joan issued a renewed appeal for information on Claudia's 50th birthday (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)Mr Fox said: "That she has been denied the opportunity of fulfilling her potential and living life in a way that made her happy, be that in career aspiration, travelling the world or the possibility of raising children, is tragic in the extreme.
"Let us not forget that Claudia's family and closest friends have also been denied the opportunity of living and sharing these types of momentous moments with her. That is equally sad and can surely only magnify the pain that they continue to feel 15 years on."
Earlier this year Joan, 80, told the Mirror of her hopes that Claudia's 50th birthday would prompt anyone with information to come forward and end a “living nightmare”.
Police drained a lake at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits in the search for Claudia (Tom Maddick SWNS)“All I want on Claudia’s birthday is to know what has happened. No matter how old your children are, they are still your babies. This is draining for all of us. As a family, we have had to live in a state of limbo for far too long" she said back in February.
“No parent should have to endure this amount of pain but every day I wake up and the horror of it all begins again. Never did I imagine I’d be marking her birthday by pleading for answers and praying someone will tell me what happened to my daughter. As I do every year, I will buy a bunch of purple tulips, Claudia’s favourite flowers, then go to church and light a candle for her. I ask anyone else who is thinking of my daughter to do the same. It brings me so much comfort knowing other people are thinking of her.”
“I have to have hope and believe that one day I will find out what has happened to Claudia. If I don’t have that, I don’t have anything. I celebrated my 80th in August. It and Claudia’s 50th should be happy times, moments to celebrate as a family, but it is hard to smile when one of your children is missing.”
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