Disappearance of Claudia Lawrence

At 6 am on the morning of Wednesday 18 March 2009 Lawrence started her shift at Goodricke College's Roger Kirk Centre. She completed her shift at 2 pm and was recorded on CCTV leaving the College on foot a few minutes later. Around 3 pm she was recorded on CCTV passing a shop in Melrosegate near her home and was seen by a neighbour. During the course of the evening she spoke to both her father and mother on her mobile phone. Her mother described Lawrence's mood as normal and relaxed. The two women discussed a Mother's Day event planned for the following Sunday which both would attend. Lawrence told her mother she was at home and that she planned to retire early since she would have to rise before 5 am next day in order to walk to work, her car being under repair. Lawrence sent a final text message from her mobile phone at 8:23 pm and a final incoming text was received at 9:12 pm. Thereafter nobody is known to have seen or heard from Lawrence. [4] [5]

On Thursday 19 March 2009 Lawrence was scheduled to start work at 6 am. She did not report for duty. Her manager called her mobile phone number but although the phone rang the call was directed to voice messaging. The manager took no further action. Lawrence had previously arranged to meet her friend Suzy Cooper at The Nags Head that night. Cooper attended the appointment but Lawrence did not. Cooper then attempted to contact Lawrence by telephone. Lawrence was normally a prolific user of her Samsung D900 mobile phone so Cooper was surprised when she was unable to attract a response. Cooper attempted to contact Lawrence again on the morning of Friday 20 March but again without success. At this point Cooper became alarmed and telephoned an acquaintance at Goodricke College to obtain information. The acquaintance told her that Lawrence had not reported for duty on either 19 March or 20 March.

Cooper telephoned Lawrence's father Peter on Friday 20 March to report the situation. Peter visited his daughter's home in company with George Forman, the landlord of The Nag's Head. Using Peter's key, the two men entered the property. They found it in an orderly state. The bed was made and there were unwashed 'breakfast dishes' in the kitchen sink. Her handbag containing her purse, bank cards and passport was in the house. The only significant items missing were her mobile phone and a rucksack which she normally used to carry her chef's whites to and from work. Indications were that Lawrence had left the house normally to go to work at around 5am on the morning of Thursday 19 March. But she had never arrived.

The North Yorkshire Police (NYP) was contacted at around 2 pm on Friday 20 March 2009 in order to report Lawrence as a missing person. Police officers met with Lawrence's father at her home later that day. The NYP was initially slow to act on grounds that Lawrence was not a vulnerable person and there was no obvious evidence of violence. They considered it likely that Lawrence had decided to absent herself and would reappear after a few days. However, NYP officers checked her route to work and sent out a public request for information. Lawrence's family became increasingly insistent that she must have been abducted. After five weeks the NYP upgraded the enquiry from a missing person one to one of suspected murder. [6][7]

The original NYP investigation of Lawrence's disappearance considered various possibilities, including :

- That Lawrence had left with a new lover or to take up a new job or merely to take a break. In recent years there have been an average of around 3,500 missing persons reports per year in the NYP area. The large majority of these cases are quickly resolved when the missing person reappears. However, as time went on Lawrence's family became increasingly insistent that she would have contacted them had she been able to do so. This possibility was eventually dismissed.[8]

- That Lawrence had suffered an accident or medical emergency on her way into work. The route from her home to place of work was checked at an early stage and no trace of her was found. This possibility was quickly dismissed.

- That Lawrence had been the victim of a chance encounter with a serial killer or other crazed individual. Reports were made of various people behaving strangely in the Heworth area in the days leading up to Lawrence's disappearance. These reports were investigated but without conclusive result. Cases of known serial killers who might have been active in the area were also considered but discounted..[9]

- That Lawrence had been the victim of a person known to her. Detectives soon began to favour this explanation. Most murder victims know their killer and Lawrence's lifestyle may have made her vulnerable to the anger of a jilted lover or some similar episode.

One critical piece of evidence was that Lawrence's mobile phone remained on until 12:08pm on Thursday 19 March at which time it was deliberately switched off. It was determined that the phone had been connected to a mast in the Heworth area of York throughout the morning of 19 March and up to the point it was switched off. This indicates that the phone itself did not leave the local area. The only CCTV camera on Lawrence's route to work was at the Melrosegate Post Office and the recording from the morning of 19 March did not show Lawrence passing. Although that is not critical since she might have passed on the opposite side of the road out of camera view.

The independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers offered a reward of £10,000 to anyone providing information which leads to the arrest and conviction of any person linked to the disappearance.[10][11] NYP received over 1,200 calls offering information. An appeal for help was made by John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.[10][12] In early June 2009, a reconstruction of Lawrence's last known movements was featured in a Crimewatch appeal.[13] Also in June, 100 days after his daughter went missing, Peter Lawrence launched a YouTube appeal for information.[14] In late August 2009, NYP and the Lawrence family used the annual Whitby Regatta in North Yorkshire to publicise the campaign.[15]

In September 2009, NYP revealed that the search for Lawrence had been extended to Cyprus.[16] Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway stated that Lawrence "knew several people who live on the island" and that she may have "received job offers" while there.[17] Galloway also stated that some people who had been interviewed had been "reluctant and less than candid" when spoken to, and that a team of officers had been sent to Cyprus to interview people whom Lawrence met there.[18] It was reported that the last text message received by Lawrence was from a man who was on the island.[16][17]

Later in September, detectives investigating the Lawrence case made a search of an area of the university where Lawrence worked.[19] In October 2009, NYP revealed they were looking for the driver of a "rusty white van" who was seen trying to talk to women on Lawrence's route to work in the days before she disappeared.[20] On 24 March 2010, NYP began searching areas of Heslington in York, based on new information received "in the last few days".[21] On 24 March, land near to a children's play area, near a muddy farm track, was searched, and on 25 March the search was relocated to a field near to the university, an area of land which is bordered by a playing field and student accommodation.[22] It was later stated that NYP had not found any new leads from these searches and nothing of significance had been discovered.[23] The search at Heslington was later considered to have been prompted by hoax information.[24]

The detective leading the original enquiry, Ray Galloway, indicated that the probable explanation for Lawrence's disappearance lay in her lifestyle. Principally in the "complexity and mystery" of her relationships with men. The investigation centred around construction of a "rogue's gallery" of the men she had been involved with. One Sky TV journalist stated "Claudia apparently lived a significant part of her life in secret. For a privately educated daughter of a country solicitor Claudia had some unusual acquaintances and this remains the only missing person case where I have been warned off or threatened - not once but twice".[25] The general finding which emerged from the original enquiry was that Lawrence had probably been abducted and murdered shortly after leaving home on 19 March. It was considered likely that her killer was a local man known to her.

In June 2013, NYP announced the £300,000 creation of a new Major Crime Unit (MCU), set up to ease the burden on day-to-day policing. Based in Harrogate, the MCU was to be tasked from October 2013 to handle crimes including rape and kidnap, and review cold cases.[26] In July 2013, the force said the unit would assess several "stalled" cases when it opened in October, including the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence.[27]

The MCU subsequently assessed the case, and carried out new forensic searches at her home on Heworth Road. Using what were described as "advanced techniques not available in 2009",[28] the MCU found additional fingerprints and a man's DNA on a cigarette end in her car. Work surrounding her Samsung D900 mobile phone showed from cell site activity that she had spent time in the Acomb area of York in the weeks leading up to her disappearance.[28] On the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, a new appeal was made on the BBC's Crimewatch, which aired on 19 March 2014.[28] CCTV footage, recovered in 2009, showed a silver Ford Focus hatchback car, manufactured between 1998 and 2004, driving along Heworth Road. The car's brake lights come on as it approaches level with Claudia's house.[29]

The new investigation led by detective Dai Malyn made a number of arrests. The suspects concerned are all believed to have been men with whom Lawrence had relationships or who had some insight into those relationships. On 13 May 2014 Michael Snelling a 59-year-old man was arrested by NYP at a house in Burnholme Grove on suspicion of Claudia's murder.[30] In 2014 Snelling was a project co-ordinator for the mental health charity York Mind. But until 2013 he had worked for the Biology department at the University of York where he and Lawrence were acquainted.[31] NYP, assisted Northumbria Police in a search of Snelling's deceased mother's house at North Shields, Tyneside. Snelling was released on police bail the following day[32] and the forensic search of his York property ended on 21 May 2014. Snelling was re-bailed on 12 June 2014.[33] In July 2014 NYP arrested Paul Harris, the landlord of The Acomb pub (since renamed as The Clockhouse pub) in York on suspicion of 'perverting the course of justice'. Harris was quickly released without charge. He complained that the police had used pneumatic drills to excavate the cellar floor of his pub. Harris stated that Lawrence had been a customer at his pub in the weeks before her disappearance and he had spoken to her. But that was his only connection with her.[34]

On 8 March 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service abandoned proceedings against four men who had been arrested on suspicion of murder, citing lack of evidence. Known as 'the Nag's four', the suspects had all been regular customers of The Nag's Head and the case against them reportedly relied on mobile phone and satnav tracking. They all denied any involvement in Lawrence's disappearance.[35][36][37] The NYP complained about a lack of co-operation from witnesses.[38] The second investigation then ended having achieved little.

In his 2017 book, Catching a Serial Killer: My hunt for murderer Christopher Halliwell, the Senior Investigating Officer in the murder investigation of Sian O'Callaghan, Stephen Fulcher, suggests there are similarities between Claudia and Sian's cases. A witness reportedly came forward to say they had seen Claudia speaking to a man matching the description of Sian's killer, Christopher Halliwell.[39] In 2018, investigative journalist Tim Hicks and retired police intelligence officer, Chris Clark, suggested that Claudia's murder is consistent with Halliwell’s modus operandi. Halliwell had a tenuous family link with Yorkshire and is known to have visited the area.[40][41] But Halliwell was born and lived most of his life in Swindon, Wiltshire. The two murders he was convicted of plus other murders he is directly implicated in all took place in the Swindon area. Both NYP and Wiltshire Police have stated that there is no evidence linking Halliwell to the Lawrence case. Nevertheless, some observers believe that the NYP's focus on Lawrence's lifestyle and social circle may have been misguided.