Mother of Claudia Lawrence who disappeared 15 years ago visits her ‘haunted’ empty house as she marks her ‘nightmare’ Mother’s Day
THE mother of Claudia Lawrence who disappeared 15 years ago has visited her “ghostly” empty house as she marks a “nightmare” Mother’s Day.
Joan Laurentius has revealed she is in talks with City of York Advice on what the property could be used for.
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Ideas include making it a safe house for a domestic violence victim or a family that is homeless or as a community project for people in need.
But she finds returning home a “nightmare” and “heartbreaking.”
Jeanne said The mirror: “It’s so scary to come back, but I’m bound to it now. Every time I walk through the front door it takes so much out of me.
“It’s a nightmare, but I have to come every two weeks to meet the building’s requirements insurance. Every time I come here it’s heartbreaking.”
Claudia was 35 when she disappeared on March 18, 2009.
It’s a nightmare. It feels like a lifetime, but even worse: a life sentence. The suffering is unbearable
Joan Laurentius
She worked in the kitchens of the University of York’s Goodricke College from 6am to 2pm.
The day she went missing, she told her mother on the phone that she was home and planned to go to bed early.
As she walks around the property, Joan points out damaged plasterwork and Claudia’s broken belongings, including a mirror, vase and picture frames.
The property is caught in a time warp and there is a sandwich maker on the counter.
Joan said: “It’s a nightmare. It feels like a lifetime, but even worse: a life sentence. The suffering is unbearable.”
She added that she is doing her best to carry on, but the pain “never goes away.”
Joan revealed that on every mothers Day she rereads the cards that Claudia sent her to her own home in Malton, North Yorkshire.
She said it broke her heart to think she might never get another copy from her daughter.
Claudia was reported missing on March 20, 2009, after missing two shifts at work and an appointment with a friend.
MURDER INVESTIGATION
Police initially treated it as one missing person but after five weeks, police said they were treating it as a murder investigation.
Joan said she considered Mother’s Day weekend the anniversary of Claudia’s disappearance.
She spent the day with her eldest daughter Ali and said she was “very aware” of Ali losing her sister.
Claudia’s father Peter Laurens broke the heartbreaking news about his daughter in a phone call to Ali.
He died in February 2021 at the age of 74.
Because the police treated the case as a murder investigation, Claudia’s house was considered a murder case crime scene and when she was finally allowed back in, she was shocked at the state it was in.
‘Complete mess’
Joan claims the police left it in a “complete mess”; they had torn out the carpet of the stairs, the plasterwork was damaged and vases were broken.
Claudia had bought the house in 2007, about eighteen months before she disappeared.
Joan said her daughter liked “properties with character” and her home had the original 1823 fireplace, complete with Victorian tiles.
There is a candle on the mantelpiece in the living room, which Joan says was from the latter Christmas we had together.
As she walks through the house, she checks that all the lights are working and looks around in bewilderment as she points out the damage.
There are also boxes lying around, some containing a kitchen pan and another containing VHS tapes with handwritten labels on them.
There is also some romantic fiction, including the novel Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes.
Joan said that in the early days of the investigation, when police showed her photos of the house, it was “too pristine”.
‘Someone had cleaned up’
While she said Claudia was tidy, Joan said the place looked like “someone had tidied up” and that it was “obvious” someone had been there to rearrange things.
Joan also highlighted that there had been a pair of ‘very old-fashioned slippers’ that were not Claudia’s as hers were brand new and she would never wear something like that.
She said what happened in the first 72 hours was critical and until that was resolved it remained a “nightmare.”
Jeanne said too Possible evidence was found in the house after a new police detective took over the investigation.
She claimed that some DNA those found had not been traced.
Before the house can be used for charitable purposes, Joan says it needs a “good revamp”, including a lick of paint, plaster repairs and new carpets.
But since Joan is now 80, that would be “quite a struggle.”
The garden would also need to be cleared as it has now been taken over by brambles.
Joan said: “I feel haunted around the house and haunted by thoughts of what happened to her.”
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