Chef's father in 'abductor' plea

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Peter Lawrence said he felt "drained and empty" as he made an emotional plea from his home in Slingsby, North Yorkshire, nearly three weeks after the 35-year-old disappeared in York.

Mr Lawrence said he believed there were currently no clues as to where his daughter is but he thought she may have been taken by someone she knew.

Speaking in the living room of his semi-detached bungalow, the 62-year-old solicitor said: "If Claudia was taken then someone, somewhere out there, must know that a person they know, perhaps even love, who was missing on the Wednesday, Thursday, or is behaving strangely but you haven't mentioned it through a misguided sense of loyalty.

"We're now in Holy Week, leading up to Easter. Please search your conscience and report this. It could have been your daughter.

"And we don't know but Claudia, if you're out there, if you're seeing or hearing this, never mind all the searches that have been going on. Never mind all the media fuss. All we want is to know you're safe and to hope that you're able to come back to us and soon."

Mr Lawrence said he believed Miss Lawrence had disappeared on her way to work at the University of York's Goodricke College on the morning of March 19 but said he did not think she had been abducted by a stranger.

"I don't believe that she was abducted in the sense of a forcible removal. It would be quite difficult to do that, even with a smallish girl like Claudia, because she would kick, shout and scream, but there's always the possibility that someone she knew vaguely offered her a lift," he said.

Speaking about how Miss Lawrence's family and friends were coping with her disappearance, he said: "You can't begin to imagine what this is doing to us, Claudia's family and friends. It certainly drains me. I feel drained and empty. I've got to be strong. I've got to keep going."

Miss Lawrence was last seen on the afternoon of March 18 near her home on Heworth Road, in York, and has not been in contact with anybody since around 8.30pm that day.