Ali Sims, sister of Claudia Lawrence, in plea to ease the family’s “unending” pain (From York Press)

Ali Sims, sister of Claudia Lawrence, in plea to ease the family’s “unending” pain

8:32am Monday 21st December 2009 in

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THE SISTER of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has urged anyone with information about her whereabouts to ease the family’s “unending” pain.

Ali Sims, 38, made the plea as the family prepared for its first Christmas without 35-year-old Claudia, who went missing in March.

Her sister Ali said: “Please, whoever is involved, give us the gift of peace this Christmas and let us know where she is.

“This Christmas is going to be the hardest time since Claudia went missing. We’ll get through but it can never be the same until she’s back with us.

“There will be tears and moments when it all feels like too much to bear, but we’ll stay strong.

“If anybody does know something and they are keeping quiet, then maybe they’ll understand what we are going through and come forward.”

Ali, aged 38, who lives in the Peak District with her husband, Danny, and their two sons, revealed she has a recurring dream that Claudia suddenly turns up “out of nowhere” at a family gathering.

She said: “Christmas is a time for peace and this family needs some.”

Ali said the family used to wait anxiously for the phone to ring with news about her missing sister but as the months have passed they now dread the sound of the phone ringing in case it is the bad news they fear. She has even had to persuade their mother, Joan, 66, not to sit by the phone all Christmas Day.

She said she and Danny would celebrate Christmas for their sons Luke, five, and Joshua, 16 months, but would have a “moment of reflection” once the boys were in bed.

She said she and Danny had tried to set Claudia up with “a nice bloke” and said: “Some of the family have had terrible nightmares, but I have this dream night after night that all the family are stood around when Claudia suddenly appears out of nowhere, acting as if nothing has happened.

“Part of me hopes nothing happens over Christmas; I just don’t know how we’d all cope if it did. But that’s only for bad news – it would be the greatest gift if she was found safe and well.”

Prayers were said for Claudia yesterday in many local churches, including York Minster, where her father Peter worships; Holy Trinity Church in Heworth, Claudia’s local church; and St Mary’s Priory Church in her home town of Malton, where prayers have been said at every service since she disappeared.