29-04-2025
Claudia Lawrence's 'shellshocked' mother discovers her missing daughter's home has been broken into twice after revelations about secret attic
The grieving mother of missing chef Claudia Lawrence claims her daughter's home has been broken into after she revealed new evidence was found in the property.
Claudia , 35, vanished without a trace after failing to turn up to work at the University of York's Goodricke College on March 19, 2009.
Multiple men were arrested – then released. A lake near her home was emptied in the search for her body. Yet Claudia has never been found.
Despite an extensive investigation, her case remains a mystery and has become one of Britain's most well-known unsolved missing person cases.
Joan Lawrence, 81, believes that the intruders targeted her daughter's home on two occasions after she she found a secret attic that could contain new evidence about her disappearance.
The discovery was made alongside journalist and 'Answers for Claudia' podcaster Tom McDermott on January 3.
A tiny attic hatch was found in a built-in wardrobe inside Claudia's bedroom as well as a tissue and a packet of half used chewing gum inside a black leather jacket, which they hoped would contain DNA clues.
However, a few days after the release of the podcast which detailed the findings Mrs Lawrence was left 'absolutely shellshocked' to discover that someone may been inside the house.
The mother claimed that an internal door she 'meticulously' locks was left wide open and the home's front door lock was scratched and bent.
She added that a shelf unit had been moved, clothes had been taken from Claudia's wardrobe and that the attic hatch had been 'tampered' with.
Mrs Lawrence said: 'I got one hell of a shock. I still don't know how they got in. It makes me feel a bit creepy going there on my own, that somebody's been in.
'I will go in daylight. It's made me really nervous and I can't go in the house on my own now.'
Mr McDermott told the Mirror that he was also 'shaken' by the incident and that someone has been 'rattled' by their discovery.
Speaking to the Mirror, Tom said: 'Somebody has been here, twice! That's very disturbing and it's frightening because Joan is now visiting this house on a regular basis knowing someone else has been there.
'It looks like a professional job because there's no break in through a window, or damage to the doors, it's either somebody who has a key or who knows how to break into houses. I think the disturbance was nothing to do with the loft but more to do with clothing and that tissue.'
Both Mrs Lawrence and Mr McDermott have made reports to police about the incidents but North Yorkshire Police are yet to visit the premises to investigate.
These developments have been disclosed in a podcast, Answers For Claudia, hosted by Mr McDermott, who grew up in Claudia's native Malton and who has formed a friendship with Mrs Lawrence.
For two years they have worked to try to, what Mr McDermott describes as, 'move the dial' on what happened to Claudia.
She went missing from her home on the outskirts of York on March 19, hours after CCTV had recorded her walking to her home in Heworth from her shift as a catering chef at the University of York.
That night, she spoke to both her parents at 8.30pm and told them she planned to get up at 5am to walk into work.
She was reported missing after failing to show up or to meet her friend Suzy Cooper at the local pub, or to answer calls.
The next day her father Peter Lawrence used his keys to enter her cottage to find Claudia's bed made and a few dirty dishes in the sink.
Only her chef's whites, mobile phone – which data later showed had never left the area, and was switched off some hours after she failed to turn up for work – and hair straighteners were missing.
It would take police another six weeks to undertake a full forensic search of the house.
What ensued was a search costing more than £1.5million, with hundreds of officers working to piece together what happened to the chef.
Mrs Lawrence still habours hope her daughter is alive and believes she had found new evidence after following a lead from a van driver called Dave who recalled seeing Claudia in a leather jacket while driving north with a friend on the A1M on Wednesday, March 18.
'Baffled by what she could be doing there, he pulled over and called the police, fearful that it may be a scam in which the woman forced drivers to stop only for vehicles to be robbed,' he said.
He thought no more about it however, until a few days later he saw the missing Claudia's face on the television.
'I saw this face pop up on the news and it said it was a woman missing from York and I was just sitting there.
'I said to my wife, 'That's the woman off the A1, that's her'.'
He contacted police but believes it was not followed up.
While searching for the leather jacket, Mrs Lawrence came across the hidden attic which she claims has since been broken into.
It is also believed that the tissue they'd found had been taken too, along with four items of Claudia's clothes.
Although she wants the new area to be searched after the bombshell revelation, she said she doesn't want police inside the property as she has 'lost all faith and trust in them'.
She has vowed 'never' to give North Yorkshire Police the keys to Claudia's home saying the last time officers searched the property they left it a 'mess'.
Podcast producer Mark Sandell, said: 'There are encouraging signs that we are going to generate some answers for Mrs Lawrence.
'The police and Tom are talking to each in a proper grown-up way. People are still coming forward with information. And we've clearly rattled somebody who has been into this house.'
A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: 'We've been made aware of Mrs Lawrence's concerns that some items have been moved inside the property.
'We have contacted Mrs Lawrence to discuss this, but as yet we have not been given access to the property, which would allow us to investigate further.
'As always, we continue to assess the information we receive in relation to the disappearance and suspected murder of Claudia, and we urge members of the public to pass on anything that could assist the investigation. We're also committed to engaging with and supporting Claudia's family in any way we can.'
The disappearance of Claudia Lawrence
2009
March 18 - Miss Lawrence speaks with her parents over the phone and, at 8.23pm, sends her friend a text. She has not been seen or heard from since.
March 20 - Miss Lawrence's father, Peter, contacts North Yorkshire Police after his daughter fails to keep an arrangement to meet a friend at the Nags Head pub. She also fails to attend work.
March 23 - Mr Lawrence describes his daughter's disappearance as a 'living nightmare' during a news conference in York.
April 24 - Detectives say that Miss Lawrence's disappearance is being treated as a suspected murder investigation. A £10,000 reward is offered for information that could lead to the conviction of those responsible.
2010
May 6 - Mr Lawrence calls for an urgent independent inquiry into the police investigation of his daughter's disappearance and suspected murder.
July 29 - Police confirm they are reducing the number of officers dedicated to the inquiry into Miss Lawrence's disappearance.
2013
October 29 - A new forensic search of Miss Lawrence's home is announced as police launch a fresh review of the case.
2014
March 19 - Five years on from Miss Lawrence's disappearance, officers discover at her home the fingerprints of people who have still not come forward to the investigation.
May 13 - A 59-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of murder. He is released on police bail and eventually released without charge on November 17, 2014.
2015
March 23 - A man in his 50s is arrested on suspicion of murdering Miss Lawrence and is released on police bail the following day.
April 22 - Three more men, all in their 50s and from the York area, are arrested on suspicion of murder and are released on bail.
September 17 - A file of evidence on four men arrested on suspicion of murder is sent by North Yorkshire Police to the Crown Prosecution service (CPS) so it can consider whether to bring charges.
2016
March 8 - Police say the CPS has decided the four men will not face charges.
2017
January 17 - Mr Lawrence says he is 'hugely depressed and disappointed' as the investigation into his daughter's disappearance is scaled down.
2019
March - Nearly a decade on from her disappearance, Miss Lawrence has still not been found. Her father says in an interview that 'it's very difficult' to conceive of her still being alive.
July - The Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill, also known as Claudia's Law, came into force. This followed years of campaigning by Mr Lawrence and allows relatives to take control of their missing loved ones' financial matters.
2021
February 15 - The death of Peter Lawrence in announced.
March 18 - Speaking after taking over the police investigation, Detective Superintendent Wayne Fox said it is not too late for people to come forward and stop the 'unrelenting anguish' caused to the chef's loved ones.
August 24 - A new search operation is announced at the gravel pits at Sand Hutton, about eight miles from York. The search, which takes in a lake and fields, last two weeks but police later say they have found 'nothing of obvious significance'.
