Claudia Lawrence: Police end lake search after ‘nothing significant’ found in efforts to locate missing chef

Detective says officers were ‘duty bound’ to search area after new evidence came to light

Police have ended a major search of a lake as part of the murder investigation into the disappearance of university chef Claudia Lawrence after “nothing of obvious significance” was found in the area.

Teams of police experts, search dogs, divers and forensic archaeologists spent two weeks scouring the lake and nearby woods at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits as part of an ongoing murder probe.

Detectives believe Ms Lawrence, who worked at the University of York and went missing in 2009, was murdered, but no body has ever been found in the case.

North Yorkshire Police said that a small number of items were recovered during the search, which concluded on Sunday.

Although these items are being assessed for their forensic potential, no relevance to Ms Lawrence’s disappearance has been established so far, the force said.

Detective Superintendent Wayne Fox, who is leading the enquiry, said that separate strands of information had been received by detectives, prompting the lake search.

“When we assessed these separate and independently-sourced pieces of information against the wealth of information already generated during the last 12 years, we found they correlated with other information pointing to the area of Sand Hutton,” Mr Fox said.

“Armed with fresh information to the enquiry, that seemed to corroborate known facts, we were duty bound to conduct thorough searches of the area.”

He added: “Not searching was not an option - not for Claudia, not for her family, and not for the wider public.”

The disappearance of Ms Lawrence, who was last seen on 18 March 2009 as she was walking towards her home on Heworth Road, York, has led to one of the longest-running missing person cases in the UK.

No charges have ever been brought over the case, despite a number of people being questioned in connection with her disappearance.

On Sunday, Mr Fox said he was grateful to members of the public who had come forward with new information following publicity surrounding the search.

“In the light of some media speculation, I would like to stress, however, that we are not liaising with any other police force in relation to these new lines of enquiry,” he added.

“As I hope the events of the last two weeks demonstrate, we are committed to establishing what happened to Claudia and bringing closure for her family.

“You cannot fail to be moved by the ongoing suffering of a mother who does not know what has happened to her daughter.”

The detective superintendent also reiterated a call for anyone who knows what happened to Ms Lawrence to “do the right thing, come forward and help end the torment of [her] family”.

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 1, and pass details to the Force Control Room quoting “Claudia Lawrence”.

Additional reporting by PA