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Time-waster claimed to have found Claudia's body
A DRUNKEN man wasted police time by calling to tell officers he had unearthed the body of missing chef Claudia Lawrence.
Matthew Sleight, 26, was found slumped by a roadside after calling the North Yorkshire force to say he had found 35-year-old Claudia under a bush and had "dug her up".
Sleight claimed he had found her body by the A19 in Riccall, near Selby, around 15 miles from her home in York.
Miss Lawrence has been missing since March 18 and an investigation into her disappearance – now being treated as suspected murder – has proved fruitless.
Steve Ovenden, prosecuting at Selby Magistrates Court, said police officers arrived at the scene at 1.10am on June 19 following a call from ambulance staff alerting them to a body in the road.
They found Sleight slumped against a wooden fence, "stinking of alcohol".
Sleight was arrested and spent a night in the cells before being charged with being drunk on a highway.
He admitted the offence, as well as being in breach of a conditional discharge.
Sleight, representing himself, said: "I was just being stupid and idiotic. I was drunk and I'm sorry for wasting your time. It's time I took responsibility for my actions."
Bench chairman Ron Humphries revoked the existing conditional discharge and replaced it with another to last for 18 months, as well as ordering Sleight to pay 50 costs.
Last month the father of Claudia took the search for his daughter worldwide with a YouTube video appeal.
Peter Lawrence, 62, launched the Claudia, Where Are You? video to mark 100 days since Miss Lawrence, 35, disappeared in York.
She was last seen near her home in Heworth Road on March 18 and failed to arrive at work at the University of York's Goodricke College the following morning.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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