THE mother of missing Claudia Lawrence said she has existed in a “dark hole” since the disappearance of her daughter nine years ago.

Joan Lawrence, who lives in Norton, said she feared there would never be closure to the pain of not knowing what happened to

Claudia, who was last seen on March 18, 2009.

“This is a particularly difficult time of year with Mother’s Day and the anniversary of Claudia’s disappearance,” she said.

“I always think of that weekend when I heard the news and was plunged into a dark hole where I have remained ever since.”

Mrs Lawrence, who is deputy mayor of Malton, said she was still working on a book to help fund her search for Claudia, which she hopes to have published next year.

“The interest in the book has been phenomenal,” she said.

“It has been difficult going back to the beginning and I am certainly a very different person to how I was then.

“There is never going to be closure when you lose someone you love.” She added: “It is very difficult to get through each day as though things are normal when they aren’t.”

Mrs Lawrence said members of the public continued to be very

supportive.

“I can’t praise the local community enough,” she said. “I have really dark days - for example, I was looking for a hat recently and found an old riding hat belonging to Claudia.”

“I have also kept all the cards we have sent to each other and find it a comfort to look through them.”

Claudia was 35 when she was last seen in Heworth, York, where she lived, on March 18, 2009. She was reported missing the following day after she failed to turn up for a shift at work at the University of York. Last year police announced the three-year reinvestigation and review into her disappearance is to be brought to a close. Mrs Lawrence said: “I will never stop looking for Claudia - it is a mother’s love and that will never change.”