Father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence believes she is still alive (From York Press)

Father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence believes she is still alive

12:21pm Monday 20th July 2009 in News By Nicola Fifield, Senior reporter

SPEAKING four months since his daughter vanished without trace, the father of York chef Claudia Lawrence says he still believes she is being held by someone against her will.

Peter Lawrence, 62, told a press conference that he still had faith the 35-year-old would be found alive.

Holding back tears, he described Claudia as “happy, straight-forward, hard-working and smiling” and pleaded for anyone who knew where she was to come forward.

“You can’t begin to imagine what the last four months have been like for me, for Claudia’s mum and for her sister,” he said.

“Despite intensive media interest and campaigns there have been really no leads at all as to Claudia’s whereabouts.

“Despite massive searches by the police over a considerable period of time at the beginning of all this, Claudia has not been found and it has led me for some considerable time to the conclusion that Claudia is being held somewhere against her will.

“As far as I’m concerned Claudia is still alive unless we hear otherwise. The fact that she has not been found dead is something which makes me feel that she is still alive.

“It is something that we just have to hope and continue to pray for.”

Claudia, of Heworth Road, York, has not been seen since March 18 and police are treating her disappearance as suspected murder, with a £10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.

Mr Lawrence, a solicitor, who is separated from Claudia’s mother, Joan, said the police team investigating the case remained as big as it was when she first disappeared.

But he said they were struggling without that vital piece of information from somebody who knows where Claudia is.

Mr Lawrence also dismissed recent reports in the national media speculating about Claudia’s private life.

“Everyone who knows Claudia knows that she is a happy, straight-forward, hardworking, smiling, single, 35-year-old,” he said.

“One of Claudia’s previous hotel managers came up to me in the street and said she didn’t recognise Claudia from certain reports.

“She said Claudia was a diamond, was helpful, always friendly, always hard-working.

“There have been stories about her past, but certainly those relationships that the police have mentioned to me related to people that I have known about through Claudia and in 98 per cent of cases I have actually met.”

Findclaudia.co.uk, a website set up by Mr Lawrence to help find his daughter, has now received nearly half a million hits, including 100,000 from internet-users in America.

If you have information to help the inquiry, phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.