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Body-find agony of Claudia's father
THE father of missing Claudia Lawrence last night spoke of his agonising ordeal before discovering that a woman's body found in a river was not his daughter.
Peter Lawrence said he endured "four hours of hell" before police confirmed that the body in the River Ouse on the outskirts of York was not the missing 35-year-old.
Miss Lawrence was last seen exactly a month ago today, and detectives involved in the North Yorkshire Police inquiry to find the missing York University chef have been unable to shed any light on what has happened to her.
Mr Lawrence, a 62-year-old solicitor from Slingsby in North Yorkshire, said of the time before he found out the body was not his daughter's: "It was four hours of hell.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family who have lost someone and gone through a missing person inquiry themselves. That was the first thought I had when we found out."
The body of the woman, who last night had still to be formally identified, was discovered in the River Ouse close to the Archbishop of York John Sentamu's official residence, Bishopthorpe Palace, where hourly prayers are continuing to be said for the safe return of Miss Lawrence.
Officers from North Yorkshire Police were called to the spot, which is popular with dog walkers and joggers, at about 10.40am after a member of the public saw the body in the water.
The body was taken away four hours later in a hearse with blacked out windows.
Eyewitness Paul Martin, 28, who was on his narrow boat moored close to where the body was found, said: "I saw several police boats in the middle of the river which were stopping other boats from going through. The river along here is very fast flowing, so the body could have been washed down quite a way from upstream."
Before learning a body had been found, Mr Lawrence yesterday made a renewed appeal for information.
He reiterated a police plea for users of the internet social networking site, Facebook, to come forward after hundreds of messages have been left on a group dedicated to the search for Miss Lawrence.
It emerged this week that detectives were investigating a
"significant" new line of inquiry after a motorist spotted a couple in a roadside row in the early hours of Thursday, March 19 – the day Miss Lawrence could have vanished.
The driver saw a man and a woman arguing near a car with its front passenger door open on University Road at about 6.10am. Miss Lawrence had been due to start work at 6am, but she never arrived.
In another line of inquiry two men were spotted at the front door to Miss Lawrence's home in Heworth Road in York in the early afternoon of either Tuesday, March 10, or Friday, March 13. Miss Lawrence, who lives alone, was last seen on her way back from work on Wednesday, March 18.
She vanished without taking any money, bank cards, or
her passport. Friends and
family have said her disappearance is "totally out of character".
Anyone with any information can contact North Yorkshire Police on 0845 6060247 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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