People aren't supposed to just vanish off the face of the Earth. Claudia Lawrence did.

Ten years ago, the 35-year-old was picked up on CCTV walking in the direction of her York home.

That night, she spoke to her parents and texted a friend. That's the last thing detectives know for sure.

She was due at work on Friday but didn't show up.

What happened in those crucial hours in between remains one of the greatest mysteries of our time - and someone's darkest secret.

"It could have been your daughter"

On Thursday March 19, Claudia was due to walk three miles to the University of York's Goodricke College where she worked as a chef.

She didn't show up for her 6am shift that day, nor did she meet the friend she'd arranged to see in the pub that evening either.

The last known images of her were captured as she walked home the previous day at around 3.05pm.

Claudia Lawrence
Claudia Lawrence

When she spoke to her parents on the phone that Thursday at 8.23pm, she seemed like she was in good spirits.

The next morning, she appears to made her bed and had breakfast but CCTV didn't pick her up on on her usual route to work.

At some point between hanging up the phone on Thursday night and what was supposed to be the start of her Friday shift, something happened to Claudia.

Her cards, cash and passport were all at home so the police don't believe she meant to dissappear.

But her blue and grey Karrimor rucksack - in which she carried her chef’s whites - and her silver Samsung D900 have never been found.

Claudia's father Peter Lawrence reported her missing on March 20.

He begged for information, directly appealing to people in the city: "Please search your conscience and report this.

"It could have been your daughter."

"No proof of life"

More than a month after the search began, the investigation into Claudia's disappearance was upgraded to a murder inquiry.

Thousands of homes and student flats had been searched and hours of witness statements had been committed to paper but detectives were drawing a blank.

But by this stage police were convinced of one thing: Claudia Lawrence almost certainly came to harm.

Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway told the media: "At the moment we have no proof of Claudia's death.

"However, five weeks on from her disappearance we also have no proof of her life."

Missing poster outside Claudia's house in 2009
Missing poster outside Claudia's house in 2009

The working theory to this day is that Claudia met someone known to her on the night of March 18 or early hours of the next morning.

Enquiries led detectives to Cyprus, where she was known to have visited several times, and several other leads were followed but each time they led to a dead end.

The investigation was scaled down but a thorough review of the evidence was carried out between 2013 and 2017.

Between March and May 2015, five men - all in their fifties - were arrested but all eventually released without charge. One of the men had links to North Shields.

Fresh forensic searches were carried out and a new appeal for a "suspicious" man spotted near Claudia's home was issued.

The search was scaled down again in 2017 and, save for hope over DNA found on a cigarette in Claudia's car, there has been little since to suggest a breakthrough is close.

"It feels most of the time like an eternity"

Chances are, there's still someone out there who knows what happened to Claudia.

Police have long believed someone known to Claudia or living in the community must have information they haven't volunteered to the police.

In March 2016, Det Supt Dai Malyn said: "I am sure that there are some people who know, or who have very strong suspicions about, what happened to Claudia.

Claudia Lawrence
Claudia Lawrence



"The fact that they are not is agonising for Claudia’s family and they should be ashamed of themselves."

But the world had heard it all before.

In September 2009, her father Peter Lawrence made a gut-wrenching plea on the steps of his home in the Heworth area of York.

He said: "It feels most of the time like an eternity. I just feel empty, hollow.

"We are convinced somebody out there knows where Claudia is. It is a matter of getting that person to give information."

No one came forward with information leading to a real breakthrough. To this day, the police don't believe Claudia was killed by a stranger.

"It’s getting more difficult to believe"

Despite a decade of questions and grief, Claudia's father has done more for the families of missing persons than few have ever achieved.

This July, a new law - which he campaigned for and is dubbed 'Claudia's Law' - will come into force, allowing those closest to missing people to take control of their loved one's financial affairs.

Peter Lawrence, photographed at his home near York, holds a photograph of his daughter Claudia Lawrence, ahead of the the 10th anniversary of her disappearance on March 18.

Now, heartbroken families must wait seven years before "presumption of death" legally applies. The new law will allow families to apply for "guardianship" after a person has been missing for 90 days.

But his own personal agony continues.

Speaking at his York home this week, he said: “It’s getting more difficult to believe [that Claudia is alive] as time goes on. It’s very difficult now.

“It just keeps going on and on, of course, because of not knowing what happened and it is the not knowing which has always been the worst part about it.

“I’ve always said that and, until such time as we know what happened, that will just go on unfortunately.”


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