Father of Claudia Lawrence speaks of hope over Madeleine McCann latest

Peter Lawrence pictured with Kate McCann at a previous vigil for missing people at York Minster, pictured with Minster staff Matthew Hallett

Peter Lawrence OBE said yesterday that the lack of answers over missing relatives “eats away at you every day”.

It follows news that a 43-year-old German national is being investigated as a suspect over the three-year-old's disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

The suspect has been identified in media reports as Christian Brueckner and police today (Friday) said they were also looking into possible links between him and the 2015 disappearance of a five-year-old girl, Inga Gehricke, in Germany.

Kate and Gerry McCann in an interview in 2017

German prosecutors have said they believe the five-year-old is dead after she vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz, in May 2007, although Scotland Yard still considers the case a missing person inquiry because there is no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.

Mr Lawrence meanwhile told The Yorkshire Post: “I hope for the McCanns sake that they can finally get closer to the truth."

Claudia Lawrence was reported missing in March 2009 - 22 months after the news of Madeleine’s disappearance - after the 35-year-old failed to show up for work as a chef at the University of York.

Her father, from Slingsby in North Yorkshire and who is patron of the Missing People charity, added: “The worst thing, which I have said in every interview for the last 11 years, is not knowing. What everyone wants is to know what happened, whether that person is dead or alive.

Peter Lawrence, father of missing Claudia Lawrence, pictured at his home in North Yorkshire

“The not knowing eats into you every day.

“Every time anything significant has happened in Claudia’s case, I think, ‘at last something is happening’, and then my hopes are dashed again. It’s like a rollercoaster and I imagine that is what the McCanns must also be going through.”

A spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann meanwhile has said the couple have been “encouraged” by results of the latest appeal over their daughter’s disappearance, with more than 270 calls and emails sent to Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange since the latest appeal.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Madeleine’s family, said her parents from Rothley, Leicestershire, are “trying to maintain as normal a life as possible” and awaiting updates from police.

“270 calls and emails isn’t a bad result, given it was 13 years ago,” he said.

“They certainly will be encouraged to know the appeal is yielding results already and hopefully within that there will be crucial bits of information the police can act upon.”