Claudia Lawrence's mum has heartbreaking plans to mark her daughter's 50th

25 February 2024 , 20:29

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Claudia Lawrence's mum Joan says she won't give up hope that her daughter will be found (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

The mother of missing chef Claudia Lawrence says she is desperate for answers as she faces her “precious” daughter’s 50th birthday this week.

Joan Lawrence, 80, hopes the milestone tomorrow will prompt anyone with information to come forward and end a “living nightmare”.

“All I want on Claudia’s birthday is to know what has happened. No matter how old your children are, they are still your babies. This is draining for all of us. As a family, we have had to live in a state of limbo for far too long" she said.

Claudia, a chef at York University, was last seen on March 18, 2009. Arrests were made years later but there was insufficient evidence for prosecutors to bring charges. North Yorkshire Police said they were scaling back their investigation in 2017 but in 2022 officers searched Sand Hutton gravel pits in the region.

“No parent should have to endure this amount of pain but every day I wake up and the horror of it all begins again,” said Joan.

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“Never did I imagine I’d be marking her birthday by pleading for answers and praying someone will tell me what happened to my daughter. As I do every year, I will buy a bunch of purple tulips, Claudia’s favourite flowers, then go to church and light a candle for her. I ask anyone else who is thinking of my daughter to do the same. It brings me so much comfort knowing other people are thinking of her.”

Claudia Lawrence's mum has heartbreaking plans to mark her daughter's 50th

York chef Claudia Lawrence has been missing since 18th March 2009 (rossparry.co.uk/ Rossparry.co.uk SWNS)

The case of missing Claudia Lawrence has not been solved

Police are now treating the case as a suspected murder investigation but Joan refuses to give up hope her daughter is alive.

Joan, of Malton, North Yorks, said: “I have to have hope and believe that one day I will find out what has happened to Claudia. If I don’t have that, I don’t have anything. I celebrated my 80th in August. It and Claudia’s 50th should be happy times, moments to celebrate as a family, but it is hard to smile when one of your children is missing.”

Joan is determined, though, to remember the happy times she shared with Claudia on her birthday.

“Claudia’s birthday was always such a special time. When she was a little girl, we would have a party at home with all her friends, and a cake. I cling onto those memories now. You never realise, at the time, how special these memories will become. As an adult, I’d always meet up with Claudia. We’d go out for a nice meal, and I’d take her shopping.

“On her 35th birthday, the final birthday we spent together, I bought Claudia a black, woollen winter coat. It hangs in my wardrobe, a poignant reminder that she isn’t here with me.”

She claims Claudia was wearing the coat the last time she walked to work, but police have never carried out DNA testing on the garment. Joan was divorced from Claudia’s dad when their youngest of two daughters vanished. Peter Lawrence, a solicitor, died aged 74, in February 2021. Joan says she is angry about “mistakes” made during the probe.

The first picture released of Claudia showed her with the wrong hair colour and Joan was deeply hurt by damaging claims her daughter had secret affairs with married men.

“The case wasn’t investigated properly in the first few weeks. Her house wasn’t forensically examined for over a month, the police didn’t interview me. I can’t help but believe these errors have been part of the reason the case has never been solved,” she said. Joan refuses to accept her daughter could be dead.

She said: “I am Claudia’s mum. Until evidence proves otherwise, I will always have hope. I know some people might think I’m naive, but without hope, I have nothing. The best present I could wish for on Claudia’s birthday is answers. Please, if anyone knows anything, come forward. The pain of not knowing is utterly unbearable.”