Peter Lawrence: ‘There is only one present I want — a knock on the door from Claudia’ (From York Press)

Peter Lawrence: ‘There is only one present I want — a knock on the door from Claudia’

9:09am Thursday 24th December 2009

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THE father of vanished York chef Claudia Lawrence says there is only one present he wants to receive tomorrow – a knock on the door from his daughter.

Speaking to The Press in his Slingsby home, Peter Lawrence said it was difficult to imagine a Christmas Day without seeing his youngest daughter.

Claudia, 35, of Heworth Road, York, has not been seen for more than nine months and police are treating her disappearance as suspected murder.

Mr Lawrence, 63, said: “I always spend part of Christmas in York with Claudia and part of it across with my other daughter Ali and her family. It’s just going to be dreadful without her. There will be a big hole there – she has been a big part of our lives at Christmas for the past 35 years and it will be very strange that she’s not there.

“There is only one present I really want – a knock on the door from Claudia.”

Mr Lawrence, a solicitor, said the festive period was particularly hard for him because he would not be at work. “It is a very difficult time and the plea still goes out, that if anyone knows anything, even if they think it’s not important, it is important to us and will they please tell the police or Crimestoppers,” he said.

“There are still bits of information coming in and one day there will be that piece of information that helps us to find Claudia.”

Mr Lawrence, who is divorced from Claudia’s mother, Joan Lawrence, said Claudia would normally be spending tonight in the Nag’s Head pub, just a few doors away from her home.

He said: “Claudia is more of a Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve person than a Christmas Day one. In the past when she was working in hotels she often requested to work Christmas Day to make sure she definitely had New Year’s Eve off.”

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