Chef's family 'going through hell'

Clarence Mitchell was speaking exactly two weeks after 35-year-old Miss Lawrence was last seen near her home in York.

He said he believed her family, led by her solicitor father Peter Lawrence, was doing the right thing by making sure her image reached as wide an audience as possible while the media spotlight was still so focussed on the case.

Mr Mitchell told BBC Radio York: "They'll be going through absolute hell, I'm quite sure.

"And everything I've heard from Peter Lawrence in public has been incredibly dignified and composed and I think he's done a remarkable job so far on behalf of the family. Obviously I wish the family well and I hope Claudia is found safe and well very soon."

Mr Mitchell, who has been the spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann in their ongoing search for their daughter Madeleine, said the intense media spotlight on Miss Lawrence's family will add to the pressure on them.

But he urged them to keep going.

"I totally understand the desire of the family to get her image out there, to keep the message alive, to make sure the media are still aware of it," Mr McCann said.

He added: "I would generally advise doing it rather than not doing it because media interest waxes and wanes, it comes and goes. And it will only be there for a certain, finite period of time. It's important for the family's own mental wellbeing, as well as the wider search, that Claudia's image is out there and that people are still thinking about her as often as possible."

Mr Mitchell said the media focus had moved away from the McCanns as they continued to work through the Portuguese police files on Madeleine's case. But he said he was fully expecting the spotlight to return as the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance approached next month.