Body is not missing Claudia: police

North Yorkshire Police said the identity of the body found in the River Ouse was not known and a post-mortem examination was due to take place.

Miss Lawrence, 35, was last seen on March 18 after she finished work at the University of York's Goodricke College.

She has not been in contact with anybody since around 8.30pm that day. She failed to arrive at work at 6am the next morning and later did not meet a friend as arranged.

Police believed she may have come to harm after meeting up with someone she knew.

On Thursday, detectives said they were investigating a "significant" new line of inquiry after a motorist told police he saw a couple involved in a roadside argument in the early hours of March 19.

Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway told reporters in York that the driver saw a man and a woman arguing near a car with its passenger door open on University Road at around 6.10am that morning.

Mr Galloway also said that, on March 10 or 13, a woman motorist passing by Miss Lawrence's home on Heworth Road in slow moving traffic saw two men outside the chef's front door.

One of the men appeared to be trying the door, either with a key or by turning the handle.