POLICE investigating the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence are examining her holiday romances after an external review of the case revealed they were not focusing enough on her love life.

Despite having 30 officers still searching for the 35-year-old and nearly £500,000 having been spent on the search, five months have now passed since Claudia vanished and no traces have been found.

North Yorkshire Police has been told to concentrate more on the missing chef’s personal relationships after commissioning the National Policing Improving Agency (NPIA) to detail how it could improve its handling of the case.

The agency expressed concern that detectives were not coping with the amount of information received in the huge probe and were taking as long as four weeks to investigate potentially crucial leads.

Det Supt Ray Galloway, who is leading what is now a suspected murder inquiry, admitted Claudia’s complex love life had hindered the search.

The focus remained on the York area where she lived, in particular her local pub where she was known to many of the men, although details have emerged of links to Wales and London, and links to relationships formed in Greece and Cuba.

Det Supt Galloway said many of these had ended by her March 18 disappearance, but was frustrated that her ex-lovers had been so reluctant to come forward. He said: “North Yorkshire Police commissioned the actual NPIA review as it was seen as an effective way of monitoring the ongoing investigation.

“The review was extremely positive and noted that the investigating team has remained competent throughout, and in some cases exceeded national standards.

“There is a list of recommendations which has been drawn up and we have embraced them and acted upon them.

“It is not my responsibility to judge Claudia’s relationships; it is my responsibility to investigate them.

“I do believe that Claudia has come to harm at the hands of someone she knew, someone who she had probably been in a sexual relationship with.

“We are determined to identify everyone who has been in a relationship with her, and these men need to know that we will keep coming back again and again until we ascertain the truth.”