Claudia Lawrence: End despair of missing woman's family - police

Claudia Lawrence's case remains unsolved exactly 15 years after her disappearance

On the 15th anniversary of Claudia Lawrence's disappearance, police have asked anyone with information to get in touch and end her family's "pain".

The chef, who was 35 at the time, failed to arrive for work at the University of York on 18 March 2009.

Police believe she was murdered, although her body has never been found and no charges have ever been brought.

Wayne Fox, from North Yorkshire Police, said "silence" was the only barrier to solving Ms Lawrence's disappearance.

On the day she went missing, she was last seen at about 15:05 GMT as she walked towards her home on Heworth Road, in York.

Ms Lawrence's disappearance prompted the biggest and most complex missing person inquiry in the history of North Yorkshire Police.

Joan Lawrence has previously said she had relied on her religious faith to help her cope with Claudia's disappearance

Singling out Claudia's mother, Joan, and her father, Peter, Mr Fox, senior investigating officer from North Yorkshire Police, said: "For such pain and despair to continue for 15 years without knowing where your child is, or what happened to them, that is far beyond what any mum or dad should ever have to live with."

"Joan has lived with unending uncertainty and trauma since the last conversation she had with Claudia on the telephone on the evening of 18 March 2009," he added.

"I also think about Claudia's dad, Peter, who tragically passed away three years ago without ever knowing what happened to his daughter."

Before his death in 2021, Mr Lawrence had campaigned for the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill, also known as Claudia's Law, which was passed in April 2017 and came into force two years later.

In 2018, he was appointed an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of his campaigning over his daughter's disappearance.

Before he died, Peter Lawrence said not knowing what happened to Claudia was "the hardest thing for the family to bear"

Speaking to the BBC in a new podcast, Joan Lawrence revealed a plan to put up her daughter's house for sale, with the hope it could be put to good use.

She said it might perhaps be used to help someone who was homeless or who was seeking refuge from abuse.

Mr Fox said Ms Lawrence's disappearance was even more poignant as she would have celebrated her 50th birthday on 27 February.

"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," he said.

While the inquiry had been in a "reactive phase" since 2017, the investigation was not closed, according to Mr Fox.

"Every new piece of information is carefully assessed against the significant volumes of material that has been gathered over the full course of the investigation," he said.

"If a specific line of inquiry is developed from receipt of new information, and grows in significance, we will take decisive action, as we did when extensively searching the gravel pits at Sand Hutton in August 2021.

"I hope the scale of activity which took place within that operation clearly demonstrates that, if information is capable of being effectively developed, North Yorkshire Police will work tirelessly in our continued search for the truth."

Specialist officers could be seen searching the exposed lake bed at Sand Hutton in 2021

Mr Fox said the "single barrier" to solving the mystery of Ms Lawrence's disappearance was the "silence" of those in the know.

"Silence from the people who know, or may suspect, what happened to Claudia but have, so far, for reasons 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 as to 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."

To mark the 15th anniversary of Claudia Lawrence's disappearance, BBC Radio York has spoken in depth with her mother, Joan, for a special BBC Sounds series.

All episodes of Claudia Lawrence: A Mother's Story are available now on BBC Sounds.