THE father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has spoken out over his fears about social networking sites at an event in the city.

Peter Lawrence, whose daughter’s disappearance in 2009 is being treated as murder, revealed yesterday how he believes more advice and education needs to be provided about the potential perils of websites such as Facebook.

He was speaking at a seminar at the York Hilton hotel attended by members of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust – named after the London estate agent who vanished in 1986 – and organised by Carole Carter, regional representative of the Association of Residential Letting Agents.

The organisation is aiming to highlight personal safety issues, and Mr Lawrence said he felt the amount of information posted through social media outlets can create dangers, following a study by the Trust earlier this month which suggested people lacked awareness of these risks.

“People are being brought up with the use of social networking and I often feel there is not enough being done to impress on children and young people the importance of keeping some things private,” said Mr Lawrence.

“It is something I feel very strongly about. Some people will go out and put a message on Facebook saying when they will be out of their home, and I find that sort of thing is just crazy – they have to take precautions.

“There is no suggestion that Claudia did not look after her personal safety, but it is an extremely important issue, especially when people are going out on their own.

“It is also something which needs to be dealt with in schools.”

Claudia, from Heworth, was 35 when she disappeared, and her father said speaking at events such as yesterday’s seminar also helped to maintain a spotlight on the continuing search.

“It means our campaign is kept in the public eye,” said Mr Lawrence. “ Somebody out there knows what happened to Claudia, and we are just waiting for their conscience to prick them enough for them to say so.”