influential people with ‘money, position and power’ may be using ‘threats of violence’ to prevent one of Britain’s most notorious missing person cases from being solved, a former Scotland Yard detective has said.
Chef Claudia Lawrence, 35, vanished without a trace after failing to turn up to work at the University of York’s Goodricke College on March 19, 2009.
And the search for Claudia is being hampered by a climate of fear among the local community, with ‘threats of violence’ and a conspiracy of silence surrounding the case, according to a podcast looking into her disappearance.
Answers For Claudia presenter Tom McDermott encountered local journalists who feared ‘physical danger’ if they spoke on the record and was even warned to steer clear of a pub in Acomb, on the west side of York, with alleged links to the case for his own safety.
On the podcast former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley recounts how after doing a segment about Claudia’s vanishing on his TalkTV show ‘Crime Suspect’, a source reached out to him suggesting Claudia had been killed and her body disposed of in a lake.
He said: ‘Twenty four hours after the episodes dropped, I was contacted by somebody who, over a course of messages, told me they thought they knew why Claudia had been murdered and who was responsible, either for commissioning her murder or actually carrying it out.
‘Claudia’s killing was organised, there was plotting and planning that went into it.
‘Secondly, her body did end up in the lake. I know the police did search some lakes, but I’ve been told it’s not the right one.
Claudia Lawrence (pictured) was 35 when she was reported missing after failing to turn up for work at York University on March 19, 2009
Her mother Joan Lawrence (pictured) said her daughter’s home must be searched again after she discovered a hidden loft
Police officers outside the home of missing university chef Claudia Lawrence in Heworth, York
‘The source told me that those responsible have money, position and possibly – in local terms – an element of power.’
While the veracity of those claims has yet to be established, it would help to explain why there is such a wall of silence around the case.
Freelance journalist Michelle Rawlins, who first interviewed Claudia’s mother Joan Lawrence in 2010, said the local community were ‘fearful’ about speaking out about Claudia’s disappearance – and she believes there are people actively ‘hiding the truth’.
‘Why would you be that fearful? Why would a whole community be that fearful?’ she said.
‘There are people that know what happened to Claudia, there are people that know and they are hiding the truth. It’s either a person or people.
‘Somebody out there knows what happened to Claudia and I hope one day their moral consciousness overtakes that drive to not say anything.’
McDermott even met with a wall of silence when trying to discuss the case with an old pal who had mutual friends with the missing Claudia.
He said the friend ‘could not have made it any more clear that he was petrified of being near this story,’ telling him: ‘I’ve been told to keep well away from it and if you do keep on with it, we can’t speak any more.’
Following her disappearance police searched the inside of Claudia’s York home for clues as to her whereabouts
After a search, authorities said they were unable to find any clues from the property
In 2021, a search was carried out at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits, near York. The family were left heartbroken after it found ‘nothing of obvious significance’
The impression of something close to an ‘omerta’ – the mafia code of silence – has also been reinforced by comments made by police.
Speaking in 2015, Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn said: ‘I’m still convinced that people close to Claudia have told us lies’.
The podcast even found potential evidence that someone may still have ungranted access to Claudia’s house.
While Joan, 81, claims to keep the curtains to Claudia’s bedroom closed to stop any ghoulish true crime fans from trying to take a peek, McDermott says on several occasions he saw them open – and also noticed that wires to an old security light had been snipped.
Speaking on the podcast, criminologist James Treadwell said: ‘The absence of a thorough forensic check of the property for some time means that is a really big lost opportunity.
‘Someone’s presence there, if they are staging a scene, would not be detected. And the likelihood of detecting that as time passes becomes less and less.
‘If someone has harmed Claudia and they are trying to delay any formal investigation and they have access to her keys to her property, that is something they could do.’
Since Claudia disappeared in 2009 disappearance after leaving her house in Heworth, about a mile northeast of York city centre, theories have swirled about who is responsible and possible motives for a murder.
The search for Claudia was launched after her friend grew worried when she did not turn up at her local pub The Nag’s Head – at that point her father Peter called her work, who confirmed she had been absent for two shifts
A graphic showing the location of Claudia’s Lawrence’s house and the nearby Nags Head Pub
A man is seen lurking on Heworth Road in York near the home of missing chef Claudia Lawrence on the last night before she failed to turn up to work
Her mother Joan claimed the police’s portrayal of Claudia as a promiscuous woman who got a thrill out of dating married men was ‘built on a bed of lies’.
Detective Superintendent Ray Galloway — the man in charge of what was a suspected murder enquiry – described Claudia’s love life as ‘complex and mysterious’ on the BBC’s Crimewatch in June 2009.
He added: ‘I am certain that some of those relationships were not known to her family or her friends.’
However, as the podcast makes clear, theories about Claudia continue to proliferate, with entire Facebook groups dedicated to figuring out her case.
Her mother Joan is also regularly called by individuals claiming to know what happened, who also stop her in the street and push notes through her door.
One local man said that Claudia was still alive and that he had been ‘tracing’ her movements – and that she was happily married in Australia.
In a disturbing development, a Nottingham psychic claimed she had died by strangulation and he knew where her body could be found – even posted a drawing online of a deceased Claudia that he had seen in a ‘vision’.
Podcast host McDermott also spoke to a man named ‘Mike’ who had met Claudia in a pub a couple of times.
Nottingham psychic Rodney Ballard claimed that Claudia had been strangled and even posted a drawing of her online
The initial photofit of Claudia, pictured with her father Peter, which criminologist James Treadwell said ‘looks little like her at the time of her disappearance.’ Peter died in 2021, was never arrested and had an alibi for the night of Claudia’s vanishing
After doing a segment about the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence, presenter and former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley was contacted by a source suggesting Claudia had been killed and her body disposed of in a lake
Claudia’s father Peter Lawrence (left) appeared on Britain’s Got Talent as part of the ‘Missing People Choir’
He had previously called Joan to say that a friend of his had told him one night that he knew two local men had picked Claudia up as she walked to work on March 19 and had killed her and put her body into a crushing machine – but then was reluctant to discuss the case on record.
The podcast also makes the claim that Claudia’s father Peter Lawrence – who died in 2021 – reported her missing before even checking with Claudia’s mother or sister if she was with them.
Peter issued a photo to the press with his arm around Claudia – which upset Joan at the time as she claims the photo did not resemble her daughter’s current look since she had redyed her hair dark – something criminologist James Treadwell says could have impacted the memory of potential witnesses.
Professor Treadwell said: ‘There is the initial confusion around the appeals about Claudia, for example, releasing a photo fit of her that looks little like her at the time of her disappearance.’
Peter was never arrested by police and had an alibi for the night Claudia vanished, but there was a feeling by Joan that she was sidelined by Peter and his friend Martin Dales, who acted as a media liaison for the family.
Joan, who divorced from Peter in 2000, said: ‘All my friends said why aren’t you doing things as her mum, because people listen to the mum.
‘I was kept out of it, the media was told they [Peter and Martin] were in charge.’
