Mum’s shock as Claudia clue revealed 10 years on

Missing chef’s mobile ‘deliberately turned off’

THE mum of Claudia Lawrence is “shocked” her daughter’s phone holds clues to her disappearance.

Reports claim mobile records show the Samsung belonging to the chef, who vanished a decade ago, was deliberately turned off. It was never found but that information has only just been revealed.

Claudia’s mum Joan, 75, said: “This is new to me. The police have never mentioned this. I’m a bit shocked.

“It must have been known and I don’t understand why it’s just come out now.”

Claudia, 35 at the time, had been due to start a shift at York University at 6am on March 19, 2009, a 45-minute walk from her home at Heworth in York.

When she failed to arrive, her manager rang her mobile at 10am. A mast next to the university places her handset in an area covering nine miles. Two hours later, at 12:10pm, her phone was switched off.

Records held by her network provider are believed to show an “explicit detachment”, suggesting her D900 handset was powered down properly.

The disclosure is one reason police think the killer was from her social circle.

Joan added: “I had no idea about the manager’s message. If someone abducted her and then realised Claudia had her phone, it makes sense they’d turn it off.

“This information could help. It makes me feel quite physically sick that someone turned off the phone.”

Ex-police chief Chris Gregg believes there is a “strong possibility she was abducted” on her way to work.

Nine people have been arrested or interviewed under caution during a £1million murder inquiry but no charges have been brought.