‘I have been forgotten by the police’: Agony for Claudia Lawrence’s mother as she faces 11th Christmas without her missing daughter
- Joan Lawrence, 77, said she feels ‘forgotten’ by the police in North Yorkshire
- The officer leading the cold case of her missing daughter retired in August
- Chef Claudia Lawrence went missing on March 18, 2009 before a shift at work
- Nine people were arrested but police never managed to find enough evidence
Missing chef Claudia Lawrence’s mother will spend her 11th Christmas without her daughter next week.
Joan Lawrence, 77, said she feels ‘forgotten’ after the police officer leading the cold case into the disappearance of her daughter retired in August.
Joan, who lives alone in her flat in Malton, North Yorkshire, told the Mirror: ‘This year has been so difficult. It’s getting close to Christmas, which always makes me sad, not having my youngest daughter with me.’
Joan Lawrence, 77, said she feels ‘forgotten’ after the police officer leading the cold case into the disappearance of her daughter retired in August
Claudia, 35, disappeared from her home in the Heworth area of York ‘without a trace’ on March 18, 2009.
And after Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn retired in August, Joan said she felt like the police forgot her.
She said she wote to the North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan to explain she ‘felt very forgotten’ almost 12 years on from her daughter’s disappearance.
One of Claudia’s last phone calls before she vanished was from her mother. It was at 8.30pm and Claudia planned to go to bed early because she had a 6am shift the next day.
Her old Vauxhall Corsa had broken down and it was a 45-minute walk to work at Goodricke College, on the York University campus, so she needed to leave the house by 5.15am. She was never heard from again.
The case remains one of Britain’s most perplexing unsolved mysteries.
Claudia (pictured), 35, disappeared from her home in the Heworth area of York ‘without a trace’ on March 18, 2009
An extensive suspected murder investigation and a cold case review cost a reported £1.5 million, North Yorkshire police took 2,517 statements, checked 1,771 vehicles, searched 38 homes and business premises, examined 64 scenes and tested more than 200 items for DNA.
Detectives originally feared Claudia had been abducted by a stranger as she walked from her home in Heworth to work, failing to arrive for her early shift on Thursday, March 19, 2009.
There was no evidence of a break-in at her home, nor any sign of disturbance. Her bed was made, dirty plates were stacked in the sink and her slippers had been left in the hall.
Her father Peter, a retired solictor, reported her missing after one of his daughter’s female friends told him Claudia hadn’t arrived to meet her in the pub, as they’d agreed, on Thursday night, and phone calls the next morning went straight to voicemail.
To date, nine people have been arrested or interviewed under caution, and files were submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to several individuals, but there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.