Claudia family's shock at tip-off one year on - VIDEO

FRIENDS of the family of missing Claudia Lawrence have spoken of their amazement that it has taken more than a year for new information to be volunteered to aid the investigation as police continue to search an area near York University.

Searches as part of the murder inquiry into Miss Lawrence's disappearance have had to be extended into a fourth day after heavy downpours hampered the operation, which began on Tuesday.

Specialist search teams from North Yorkshire Police have been combing land close to York University, where Miss Lawrence, 36, worked as a chef, after detectives received a tip-off from a member of the public.

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Martin Dales, a friend of Miss Lawrence's father, Peter, visited the scene of the searches yesterday on an area of land known as The Outgang in Heslington on the outskirts of York.

Mr Dales, from Old Malton in North Yorkshire, said: "I think the first thing to say is after a year it's obviously very encouraging that the police are still physically searching as well as doing all the work they're doing in the back room on the computers and interviewing people.

"It's amazing after a year this information seems to have only just come out."

Mr Lawrence, 63, a solicitor from Slingsby in North Yorkshire, has mounted a tireless campaign to find his daughter.

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Mr Dales said: "All the time we're out there doing all this, the information is coming into the police so it makes what you're doing worthwhile, albeit incredibly hard to actually do, particularly for Peter, as Claudia's father."

The new information which triggered the searches is the latest in a series of fresh leads in recent weeks.

A renewed appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch progra mme last month gave rise to a "potentially significant lead", although this was later discounted.

One of the biggest developments in the inquiry in recent months emerged last week when detectives revealed that Miss Lawrence had told a friend she had been out with a mystery boyfriend until the early hours of March 17, 2009 – the day before she was last seen alive. Police said the information which had led to the searches was unconnected to this development.

Miss Lawrence was last seen walking near her Heworth Road home in York after finishing work on March 18. Police upgraded the inquiry to a murder investigation the following month.