THE mother of Claudia Lawrence has praised the community of Malton and Norton for their support over the past 10 years following the anniversary of her disappearance this week.

Joan Lawrence, who lives in Norton, said the people of the towns had rallied round her and given her the strength to keep going.

“A community is about its people and there is amazing support here,” she said. “It is very different to a big city - people have showed fantastic kindness and friendship.”

Claudia, who was a chef at the University of York, went missing from her home in the city on March 18, 2009. The previous day, Joan, who is also a member of Malton Town Council, had been at a meeting of Pickering Ladies Luncheon Club before travelling to Derbyshire to stay with her older daughter, Ali, for Mother’s Day.

That evening, Joan’s former husband, Peter, telephoned Ali to break the news that Claudia, then 35, had disappeared.

Joan said: “I can’t believe it’s 10 years – where has all that time gone? In some ways, it feels like a long time, but then it seems like it’s gone so fast.”

Claudia was born in Westow Croft Maternity Home and attended St Andrew’s School in Malton.

“Her teachers said she was a ‘child with spirit’ and she was such good fun and a bit of a tomboy, we were forever at the hospital after she got into a scrape,” she said.

Joan said Claudia had loved animals and would have made an excellent vet but had chosen to go into catering, working at the Lodge Hotel in Old Malton and Malton’s King’s Head before moving to York.

“She was quite happy, and when Ali started a family she loved spending time with them,” she said.

“Claudia had boyfriends but never the right one and I think she liked to live by herself.”

Joan said that it was quite overwhelming a decade had passed since she saw last saw Claudia.

“So much has happened over the past 10 years - her nephews are growing up and her friends have married and have families,” she said.

“It’s the not knowing, that’s the hardest thing to deal with.”

Joan has organised a special service for Claudia at St Mary’s Priory, in Old Malton, this Sunday at 6.30pm, which will be led by The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

“I couldn’t have done this on my own and I am so grateful for the support I receive. Yes, my faith has been tested but if I give up hope I have nothing - hope is love.

“I have to keep the search for Claudia out there, I can never give up my daughter.”

Meanwhile, Claudia’s father Peter Lawrence said the decade of uncertainty had seen his family “destroyed from the inside”.

Peter said: “It’s a very strange feeling that it’s 10 years since we last saw Claudia. She disappeared, and sometimes that seems to be an eternity, and others, strangely, it doesn’t seem much time at all.

“All the way through it’s been a question of ‘she just disappeared’, and we still, after all this time, have no idea what happened to her.”

Peter said he found it galling that anyone could keep a secret that could tear a family apart, and urged anyone who had information which could help police to come forward.

He said: “It’s high time they let the family know because it’s a dreadful feeling, not knowing.

“You can understand, in a way, I suppose, if any one individual was responsible for Claudia’s disappearance they might not come forward, but other people must know about it and I just cannot understand them not telling the truth and coming forward.

“I just don’t understand how anyone with knowledge of what happened to Claudia can live with themselves.

“Seeing the family as they are, being destroyed from inside, basically, with the churning up that you get from not knowing what happened.

“I don’t see that anybody’s conscience or loyalty can really overcome the need to put the family out of their misery.”

Friends of Claudia lit candles at York Minster to mark the 10th anniversary of her disappearance on Monday.

Her father was unable to attend the ceremony after he was suddenly taken ill last week.

Martin Dales, his friend and spokesman, said: “Unfortunately, Peter was taken ill last week and the outcome of that is he’s under doctor’s orders to do very little.

“He’s as frustrated as anybody he couldn’t be here, but he definitely gave instructions, as only a lawyer will, to keep this event happening. The anniversary is the anniversary and he wanted Claudia’s name out there rather than his.”

Mr Dales and his wife Hazel, along with Claudia’s friends Suzy Cooper and Jen King, lit 10 candles to mark the 10 years since Claudia disappeared.