Claudia Elizabeth Lawrence (born 27 February 1974) is an English woman who was last seen and heard from on 18 March 2009. She was employed as a
chef at the
University of York's
Goodricke College at the time of her disappearance. Although the
police have treated Lawrence's case as that of
murder, with various people arrested but later released, her fate is unclear.
Background[edit]
Claudia Lawrence was born in
Malton, North Riding of Yorkshire, in 1974. She spent her early life with her father Peter (died 2021),
[2] mother Joan and older sister Ali. Lawrence's father was a prosperous
solicitor. Her mother was a member of Malton Town Council and served a term as mayor of the town.
[3]
View attachment 2949254Claudia Lawrence's house in Heworth
Lawrence enjoyed a comfortable childhood and was privately educated at the
York College for Girls. She later attended a local catering college and qualified as a
chef. She initially worked at several hotels and restaurants in
York, but became tired of the unsocial hours this involved. In 2006 she found employment at the
University of York's
Goodricke College, working as a chef in the canteen of the university's main campus. In 2007 Lawrence purchased a terraced cottage in the York suburb of
Heworth, situated about three miles (5 km) from her place of work. Lawrence was considered punctual and reliable by her employer.
[1]
Lawrence remained single throughout her life while enjoying a gregarious social life. She was reported to have engaged in a series of short-term relationships often conducted on a concurrent basis; she was reported to have had a number of "covert sexual relationships" with men, some of whom were married or in relationships.
[4] Lawrence was discreet about this and her family knew little about her relationships with men. This aspect of her lifestyle would later cause some media speculation and would also influence the police investigation of her disappearance. After moving to Heworth in 2007, Lawrence would regularly spend evenings at The Nag's Head pub
[1] close to her home. "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".
[5]
Lawrence had been to Cyprus on holiday several times, and she was believed to have explored job opportunities there.
[6]
Disappearance[edit]
Last known whereabouts[edit]
At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of 18 March 2009, Lawrence started her shift at Goodricke College's Roger Kirk Centre. She completed her shift at 2:00 p.m. and was recorded on
CCTV leaving the college on foot a few minutes later. Around 3:00 p.m. she was recorded on CCTV passing a shop in Melrosegate near her home and was seen by a neighbour. During the course of the evening Lawrence spoke to both her father and mother on her mobile phone. Her mother described Lawrence's mood as normal and relaxed. The two women discussed celebrating the forthcoming
Mother's Day.
[7] Lawrence told her mother she was at home and that she planned to retire early since she would have to rise before 5:00 a.m. the next day in order to walk to work, her car being under repair. She sent a final text message from her mobile phone at 8:23 p.m. and a final incoming text was received at 9:12 p.m. Thereafter nobody is known to have seen or heard from Lawrence.
[1]
Reported missing[edit]
On 19 March, Lawrence was scheduled to start work at 6:00 a.m. She did not report for duty. Her manager called her mobile phone number but although the phone rang, the call was directed to voice messaging. The manager took no further action. Lawrence had previously arranged to meet her friend Suzy Cooper at The Nag's Head that night. Cooper attended the appointment but Lawrence did not. Cooper then attempted to contact Lawrence by telephone. Lawrence was normally a prolific user of her mobile, a
Samsung SGH-D900, so Cooper was surprised when she was unable to attract a response. Cooper attempted to contact Lawrence again on the morning of Friday, 20 March, but again without success.
[7] At this point Cooper became alarmed and contacted mutual acquaintances including George Forman, landlord of The Nag's Head, to obtain information concerning her possible whereabouts.
Cooper telephoned Claudia's father Peter on 20 March to report the situation. Peter telephoned his daughter's manager at Goodricke College and was told that she had not reported for duty on either 19 or 20 March. Peter then entered Claudia's home using his own key in company with George Forman.
[7][8] The two men found the house to be in an orderly state. The bed was made and there were unwashed dishes in the kitchen sink, suggesting she had eaten breakfast. Lawrence's handbag containing her purse, bank cards and
passport was in the house. 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. Indications were that Lawrence had left the house normally to go to work at around 5:00 a.m. on the morning of 19 March, but had never arrived.
[9]
The
North Yorkshire Police (NYP) was contacted at around 2:00 p.m. on 20 March in order to report Lawrence as a
missing person. Police officers met with Lawrence's father at her home later that day. NYP was initially slow to act on grounds that Lawrence was not a vulnerable person and there was no obvious evidence of violence. They considered it likely that she had decided to absent herself and would reappear after a few days. However, NYP officers checked her route to work and sent out a public request for information. Lawrence's family became increasingly insistent that she must have been abducted. After five weeks NYP upgraded the enquiry from a missing person one to one of suspected murder.
[10]
Case progress[edit]
Original investigation[edit]
The original NYP investigation of Lawrence's disappearance considered various possibilities, including:
- That Lawrence had left with a new lover or to take up a new job or merely to take a break. In recent years (2015-20), there have been an average of around 3,500 missing persons reports per year in the NYP area.[11] The large majority of these cases are quickly resolved when the missing person reappears. However, as time went on Lawrence's family became increasingly insistent that she would have contacted them had she been able to do so. This possibility was eventually dismissed.[12]
- That Lawrence had suffered an accident or medical emergency on her way into work. The route from her home to place of work was checked at an early stage and no trace of her was found. This possibility was quickly dismissed.
- That Lawrence had been the victim of a chance encounter with a serial killer. Reports were made of various people behaving strangely in the Heworth area in the days leading up to Lawrence's disappearance. These reports were investigated but without conclusive result. Cases of known serial killers who might have been active in the area were also considered but discounted.[13]
- That Lawrence had been the victim of a person known to her. Criminal profilers suspect Lawrence knew her attacker and suspect her personal life holds the clue to her disappearance.[14] Most murder victims know their killer.[15]
One critical piece of evidence was that Lawrence's mobile phone remained on until 12:10 p.m. on 19 March, at which time it was deliberately switched off.
[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. This indicates that the phone itself did not leave the local area. The only CCTV camera on Lawrence's most direct route to work was at the Melrosegate Post Office, and the recording from the morning of 19 March did not show Lawrence passing, although that is not critical since she might have passed out of camera view or used a parallel street.
[7]
The independent crime-fighting charity
Crimestoppers offered a reward of
£10,000 to anyone providing information which would lead to the arrest and conviction of any person linked to the disappearance.
[16] NYP received over 1,200 calls offering information. An appeal for help was made by
John Sentamu, the
Archbishop of York.
[17][18] In early June 2009, a reconstruction of Lawrence's last known movements was featured in an appeal on
BBC One's
Crimewatch.
[19] Also in June, 100 days after his daughter went missing, Peter Lawrence launched a
YouTube appeal for information.
[20] In late August 2009, NYP and the Lawrence family used the annual Whitby Regatta in North Yorkshire to publicise the campaign.
[21]
In September 2009, NYP revealed that the search for Lawrence had been extended to Cyprus.
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 whom Lawrence met there.
[23] It was reported that the last text message received by Lawrence was from a man who was on the island.
[24]
Later in September, detectives made a search of an area of the University of York campus.
[25] In October, NYP 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.
[26] On 24 March 2010, NYP began searching areas of
Heslington in York, based on new information received "in the last few days".
[27] 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.
[28] Nothing of significance was discovered.
[29] The search at Heslington was later considered to have been prompted by hoax information.
[30]
Galloway indicated that the probable explanation for Lawrence's disappearance lay in her lifestyle, principally in the "complexity and mystery" of her relationships with men. The investigation centred around construction of a "rogue's gallery" of the men she had been involved with. One
Sky News journalist stated, "Claudia apparently lived a significant part of her life in secret. For a privately educated daughter of a country solicitor, Claudia had some unusual acquaintances and this remains the only missing person case where I have been warned off or threatened—not once but twice".
[6] The general finding which emerged from the original enquiry was that Lawrence had probably been abducted and murdered shortly after leaving home on 19 March. It was considered likely that her killer was a local man known to her.
2013 Major Crime Unit review[edit]
In June 2013, NYP announced the £300,000 creation of a new Major Crime Unit (MCU), 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.
[31] In July 2013, NYP said the unit would assess several "stalled" cases when it opened in October, including Lawrence's disappearance.
[32]
The MCU subsequently assessed the Lawrence case and carried out new forensic searches at her home on Heworth Road. Using what were described as "advanced techniques not available in 2009",
[33] the MCU found additional fingerprints and a man's DNA on a cigarette end in her car. Work surrounding her mobile phone showed from cell site activity that she had spent time in the
Acomb area of York in the weeks leading up to her disappearance.
[33] On the fifth anniversary of the disappearance, a new appeal was made on
Crimewatch, which aired on 19 March 2014.
[33] 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 Lawrence's cottage.
[34]
The new investigation, led by Detective Dai Malyn, made a number of arrests. On 13 May 2014, a 59-year-old man was arrested by NYP on suspicion of Lawrence's murder. He lived close to her home and had been a colleague of hers at the University of York. The two were reported to have been on friendly terms and he had often given her lifts in his car to and from work.
[35] Searches were made of the suspect's house in York and his mother's house in
North Shields,
Tyneside. He was released on
police bail the following day
[36] and then released from his bail without charge in November of that year.
[37] In July 2014, NYP arrested Paul Harris, the landlord of The Acomb pub (since renamed as The Clockhouse pub) in York on suspicion of
perverting the course of justice. Harris was quickly released without charge. He complained that the police had excavated a section of the cellar floor of his pub. Harris stated that Lawrence had been a customer at his pub in the weeks before her disappearance and he had spoken to her, but stated that was his only connection with her.
[38] Other arrests were made later, but those concerned were all released and none were charged.
[39]
In 2015, police released CCTV footage of an unidentified man walking nearby to the alleyway at the rear of Claudia's home on 18 March 2009 at 7:15 p.m. and 19 March 2009 at 5:07 a.m./5:50 a.m..
[40]
On 8 March 2016, the
Crown Prosecution Service refused to pursue a case submitted by NYP against four men who had been arrested on suspicion of murder, citing lack of evidence. The suspects had all been regular customers of The Nag's Head. They all denied any involvement in Lawrence's disappearance.
[41] The NYP complained about a lack of co-operation from witnesses.
[42] The second investigation then ended having achieved little.
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Still can’t work out why it ends like this?? 
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