Despairing father urges Yard to lead Claudia killer hunt
THE father of missing Claudia Lawrence has asked for Scotland Yard to take over the hunt for her killer after North Yorkshire Police’s latest £ 1million inquiry ended in failure.
Having carried out a year- long review and arrested four suspects, prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to charge the men with Claudia’s disappearance.
Despite a team of 20 officers working on the case, the Yorkshire force has failed to identify a prime suspect.
He is a man seen on CCTV lurking near the 35- year- old chef’s York home on the night she disappeared.
The footage was released by police only last year – despite having been recovered by detectives just days after Claudia vanished in March 2009.
Last night her father, retired solicitor Peter Lawrence, said: “I am disappointed that after such a long and expensive police investigation into Claudia’s disappearance, no one is to be prosecuted.
“Someone knows what happened on that day seven years ago and they should now come forward to tell us where our darling daughter is.
“I have always said that the not knowing is the hardest thing for the family to bear.”
The family believes a series of errors has been made throughout the investigations and want a more experienced force to take up the mantle. Family friend Martin Dales
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added: “We don’t think it would hurt for Scotland Yard to step in and work with North Yorkshire Police to ensure every stone has been turned to establish what happened to Claudia.”
After the Crown Prosecution Service’s announcement about the four suspects on Tuesday, North Yorkshire’s head of major crime, Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn, said: “I am sure that there are some people who know, or who have very strong suspicions about, what happened to Claudia.
“For whatever reason, they have either refused to come forward, or have been economic with the truth.
“I am left with the inescapable conclusion that this case could still be solved if only people were honest with us.
“The fact that they are not is agonising for Claudia’s family and these people should be ashamed of themselves.”
Last April four men, all drinkers in Claudia’s local pub were arrested on suspicion of murder. The men, all with links to the building trade, were interviewed extensively before being freed on bail. A friend yesterday said they had “endured a year of hell” and insisted that they were all innocent.
Police believe that Claudia’s “complicated” sex life lies at the heart of the mystery.
Peter Lawrence
with his daughter Claudia
who vanished without trace in March 2009