THE father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has spoken of the difficulty of not knowing what happened to her, 2,000 days after she was last in contact with her parents.

Peter Lawrence held a press conference at Bishopthorpe Palace yesterday, where a candle was lit next to a photo of Claudia's to mark her disappearance in 2009 in the Archbishop of York's private chapel.

Mr Lawrence said: "I never believed we would ever see this milestone, if we can call it that.

"It doesn't get any better and it can't get any better when as in Claudia's case we don't know what happened to her. We don't know where she is or even, I suppose, know whether she is alive. We still hope she is and will come back to us but it is so hard to imagine it."

Mr Lawrence said there had been a lot of support locally and nationally for the campaign to find Claudia, along with support for the Missing People charity, but he and his family still found not knowing what had happened to Claudia very difficult.

He said: "Whatever happens I will continue with the campaign to find out what happened to Claudia.

"Someone out there has not felt it necessary to say what happened to Claudia. The one thing that the police and I do agree on is that there is someone out there who knows what happened to Claudia but either through misguided sense of loyalty or fear, they are not allowing me, or Ali or her mum to have the knowledge of where our daughter is."

In May, North Yorkshire Police arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of murder, and in July Paul Harris, landlord of The Acomb, was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Both have since been re-bailed, and Mr Lawrence said the news was welcome, but he would like to be better informed.

He said: "It's a rollercoaster. Something happens and then nothing happens then something else happens.

"It's given us a bit of a lift because we know the police must have turned up some evidence to be allowed to make an arrest. What that is we will have to wait and see. The new team has been doing something which gives a bit of a lift. The police haven't been in touch. They're very limited as to what they can say, though they could keep in touch a bit more. The only way I know one person had been re-bailed was through one of our regional newspapers."