Loyalties must change to solve Claudia mystery
Conscience key says grieving father
PEOPLE PUTTING their conscience before loyalties is the answer to finding Claudia Lawrence and ending her family’s heartache over the mysterious disappearance more than a decade ago, her father has claimed.
Peter Lawrence spoke yesterday on the 11th anniversary of the last sighting of his daughter, saying how it would take relationships to break or changes in heart for someone to come forward and shed light on the investigation.
North Yorkshire Police, meanwhile, said officers would “never give up on Claudia until it is known who is responsible for her disappearance and suspected murder”.
Speaking from his home in York yesterday, Mr Lawrence said that despite the 11 years which have lapsed, he remains hopeful of answers.
The retired solicitor, who is now aged 73, has always said the answers to what happened
to Miss Lawrence lie within the community.
He said: “I think for someone sitting on information, it would take possibly a change in that person’s relationship, or perhaps a fall-out with a friend, for someone close to them to then come forward.
“It’s difficult to grasp that someone in the community has been sitting on those answers.
“You wonder why they would have loyalties to someone else that would trump their conscience and what our family has been through.”
Miss Lawrence was last seen walking home from her job as a chef at the University of York’s Goodricke College on March 18, 2009. Then aged 35, she failed to turn up for her shift at 6am the following day, and was later reported missing on March 20 by her father.
What unravelled was one of the largest inquiries ever conducted by North Yorkshire Police, and became a murder investigation the month after Miss Lawrence’s disappearance.
Nine arrests were made, and in 2015 a file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, but despite this, no-one has ever been charged.
Mr Lawrence featured in a programme on ITV on Tuesday afternoon, which revisited the police case. Judge Rinder’s Crime Stories recounted the investigation into
LIVING IN HOPE:
the disappearance, speaking to family and friends of Miss Lawrence.
“It is very important for things
Peter Lawrence, whose daughter Claudia has been missing for 11 years. to keep appearing about Claudia in the media,” said Mr Lawrence. “Usually, after something has been in the media about her, the police do have people contacting them.
“It has been a few months since I last spoke to the police but perhaps after the programme, more people may get in touch.
“After they (the police) conducted the last review about two or three years ago, there’s not much else they can do unless someone gets in touch with a lead. I’m not terribly concerned about arrests and charges, but I am concerned about answers to what happened to my daughter.”
Mr Lawrence remains an active campaigner and ambassador for the Missing People charity.
He has also used his experience to bring into effect the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill, which gives families of missing people the legal right to deal with their financial affairs if the person has been reported missing for 90 days.
Dubbed ‘Claudia’s Law’, the legislation received Royal Assent in April 2017 and the following year Mr Lawrence received an OBE after being named in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his role in instigating the Bill.
In an interview with The Yorkshire Post last year to mark the 10year anniversary of his daughter’s disappearance, he admitted he “may never see her again”.
You wonder what loyalties would trump a person’s conscience.