‘Faith and my friends’ help father with loss (From York Press)

‘Faith and my friends’ help father with loss

8:55am Tuesday 13th December 2011 in Claudia Lawrence By Jennifer Bell, jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk

THE father of Claudia Lawrence has said he never expected to go 1,000 days without news of what happened to his missing daughter – as he prepares for this third Christmas without her.

Peter Lawrence admitted the continuing mystery was “hard” to deal with, but said “faith and my friends”, as well as a chance meeting with the Archbishop of York, were helping him.

He said that if Claudia suddenly walked in through the door tomorrow: “I would just hug her – that is all I want to do, hug her.”

Over the last year Mr Lawrence has supported the introduction of new laws giving more rights to those whose loved ones are missing.

He said: “It helps to meet other people who know what I am feeling.

“I have met people with my work on new laws to help families of missing people and I have spoken to families who have had a relative missing for eight years and 20 years – and I thought 1,000 days was a painfully long. In this way it has helped talking to them.

“It is very difficult to say whether Claudia is still alive, but I very much hope she is still alive.

“Coincidentally, I happened to be travelling by train to London when I sat next to Dr John Sentamu and he told me never to give up hope – he said to me: ‘She is still alive, keep on hoping’. And I have to believe that.

“It is hard but faith gets me through – faith and my friends. That is what helps me get through Christmas and every day.”

Mr Lawrence praised the police for their dedication and said it was “jolly well about time” that whoever knew the truth came forward.

He said: “If that person has any conscience they would say something – this could be a member of their family, and if it was, what would they want? They would want the same thing.”