HER bed had been made, her teeth had been brushed and the breakfast dishes
were left in the sink.
All the signs suggest that university chef Claudia Lawrence had left her house
to walk to work in the early hours of a spring morning — before she
disappeared from the face of the earth.
Next Friday, it will be seven years to the day since pretty Claudia, 35,
was last seen alive walking home from Goodricke College in York to her home
in Heworth.
In her local, the Nag’s Head, questions about one of their loyal regulars are
no longer welcome.
The pub, just a few doors down from her house, was the centre of the chef’s
social life before she disappeared — and where much of the police inquiry
has focused.
This week,
four pals from the pub who were arrested over Claudia’s murder last year had
the cases against them dropped.
So in seven frustrating years, the only thing officers have managed to put on
trial is Claudia’s reputation, accusing her of having led a “complex” and
secretive private life with a succession of different men.
Claudia’s mum Joan said: “The police made so many mistakes from the beginning.
“I think the first 72 hours are crucial, and this is where they slipped up.
They focused far too much on her private life.”
From the very beginning, police were convinced that the secret to Claudia’s
disappearance lay with her friends and lovers.
But it was three months into the investigation before they told the public
about her personal life — by which time officers already had a “rogues’
gallery” of men they wanted to talk to.
Claudia had a wide network of friends — many of them male — and detectives
suspected she had 12 lovers over a five-year period, some of them married.
Det Supt Ray Galloway, who led the initial investigation, told the Crimewatch
programme there were likely to be other men who had been in a relationship
with Claudia.
Mum Joan and dad Peter, who are divorced, were horrified by the picture being
painted of their daughter as a “good-time girl” and marriage-wrecker.
Joan once said: “The Claudia the police are looking for is not the Claudia I
know. The Claudia they are looking for is one they’ve made up. Perhaps
they’re the ones clutching at straws.”
But one close friend said Claudia had as many as 40 secret lovers and
targeted married men because she “got a kick out of it”.
The friend told how Claudia was also a big drinker who was “easily led”. He
said: “She went for married men because she could. There were rumours she’d
been seeing a policeman. I don’t know if that’s true but there were so many
people — they’d all be a bit older and with a bob or two.”
One of those involved with Claudia was scrap metal merchant Lee Horwell, whose
marriage to wife Beth broke up after his two-month affair with the chef.
Claudia’s friend, who said her love life centred around the Nag’s Head pub,
said: “She was always secretive, always texting. Her phone would beep all
the time.
“I once went to the pub with her and she made eye contact with a bloke. The
next thing I knew she was like, ‘Right, I’m off. I’ve got to go’ — just like
that.”
Another of Claudia’s former boyfriends, builder Paddy McGinty, said at the
time of her disappearance that she sometimes made herself vulnerable to
approaches from men because of the amount of alcohol she drank.
In a statement of failure this week, the police blamed the lack of CCTV, data
and forensic evidence for there being no breakthrough in the investigation.
Remarkably, they also claimed that they cannot solve the case because
people who know about it will not provide details.
After the initial police investigation and a two-and-a-half-year review
costing £800,000; after more than 2,300 statements taken from more than
1,200 people; after nearly 3,500 police reports; 1,771 vehicles checked; 38
homes and business premises searched; 64 different scenes forensically
examined and more than 200 items tested for DNA, the police have hit a brick
wall.
They are no closer to solving one of the most baffling crimes of the past
decade.
At least the nightmare is over for Claudia’s friends from the pub, who have
spent the best part of a year on bail.
Charges against builder Peter Ruane, 55, his brother, Shane, 52, David
Robinson, 52, and Alistair Cooper, 59 were all dropped.
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All can be named today — along with the fact that Peter Ruane is going out
with 31-year-old Jen King, one of Claudia’s best friends.
Jen, who spearheaded the search for Claudia in the early days, yesterday told
a pal: “I was only guilty of being her friend.” She added: “It’s been really
s*** and we’ve had nearly a year of this. It’s taken its toll on us all.
“We’ve had sleepless nights and I’ve had to take beta-blockers for panic
attacks and hypnotherapy to calm my nerves.
“My friend is still missing. The police are still no closer and the Government
is out of £800,000.
“Countless man-hours have come to nothing.
“It’s not just Claudia who’s the victim in this — it has a ripple effect on
everybody else.”
There is no doubt the police have been met with a wall of silence in the case.
Det Supt Dai Malyn, head of North Yorkshire Police’s Major Crime Unit —
which began a review of the original investigation in 2013 — said this week:
“I am left with the conclusion that this case could still be solved if only
people were honest with us.”
The review team has been able to highlight a number of failings in the
original investigation.
For example, police initially put out pictures of Claudia with blonde hair but
her mother says that when she went missing, her daughter was a brunette with
auburn highlights.
It also took the advanced techniques available to the review team to find a
number of missed fingerprints in Claudia’s home, and a man’s DNA on a
cigarette butt found in her car.
Det Supt Malyn says a man seen on CCTV walking near Claudia’s house at the
time of her disappearance “remains the most important person to trace” — but
this footage was not made public until the sixth anniversary of Claudia’s
disappearance.
Det Supt Malyn added: “We can’t rule out that a complete stranger to Claudia
was involved and managed to avoid CCTV cameras, being disturbed by witnesses
and is unknown to the investigation team, her friends and family.
“However, I strongly favour the theory that the person — or persons —
responsible for Claudia’s disappearance were close to her.”
Even now, seven years after Claudia vanished, detectives are still
convinced that her killer lies among her friends . . .
Timeline
2009
MARCH 18
2.31pm: Claudia leaves work.
8.30pm: Talks to mum on phone.
9.21pm: Gets a text from friend Suzy Cooper who she had been planning
to meet in the pub. White Vauxhall Astra seen parked near her home.
MARCH 19
6am: Claudia doesn’t arrive for work.
MARCH 20: Dad Peter reports her missing. Investigation launched.
APRIL: £10,000 reward offered.
MAY: BBC Crimewatch film a reconstruction of last sighting.
SEPTEMBER: Police search biology department of University of York.
2010
MARCH: Police carry out a four-day search in Heslington.
JULY: Investigation scaled down from 100 officers to 16, then seven.
2012
JANUARY: Police investigate a hole found in woodland near university.
2013
JULY: North Yorks Police Major Crime Unit to review investigation.
OCTOBER: Forensic officers begin new search at Claudia’s home.
2014
MAY: A 59-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of Claudia’s murder and
later released on bail.
2015
MARCH: New CCTV appeal on the sixth anniversary of Claudia’s
disappearance shows a man acting suspiciously near her home. Local man
Alistair Cooper, 59, is arrested on suspicion of murder.
APRIL: Peter Ruane, Shane Ruane and David Robinson are arrested on
suspicion of murder, linked to the arrest in March.
SEPTEMBER: The four men are released on bail.
2016
MARCH: CPS concludes there is insufficient prospect of conviction,
therefore no further action should be taken against the four men.