Mystery of new prints at home of chef Claudia

Senior officers announced a series of new lines of inquiry on the fifth anniversary of the day the chef, then aged 35, failed to turn up for work at York University in 2009.

North Yorkshire Police launched a review of the investigation last year after an enhanced major crime unit looking into longstanding ‘cold cases’ and other high-profile offences was established by the force.

The force has now denied reports in a Sunday newspaper that the new team had identified a prime suspect as they made a series of new appeals.

Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Mason, the force’s head of crime, said: “I need to make it absolutely clear there is no prime suspect in this case. Nor is there any individual who can be deemed to be classified as of a suspect status.”

Miss Lawrence was reported missing by her father, Peter, on March 20, 2009. She was last seen at around 3.05pm on March 18, walking back towards her home, and that night she spoke to both her parents on the phone.

Her family believe something happened to her after she left for work early on March 19. Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn, who is leading the new review of the case, said officers spent two months re-examining Miss Lawrence’s home in the Heworth area of York and this work supports that theory.

Police have said before that Miss Lawrence’s mobile and rucksack have never been found and now say her hair straighteners also appear to be missing, though hair dye was found at the house in the latest search.

Mr Malyn said: “From the review of all the evidence available, including the fact that Claudia’s bed was made and it appears that she had eaten breakfast and brushed her teeth, it is our belief that she had left for work on the morning of Thursday 19 March 2009.

“What is unusual is that Claudia’s GHD hair straighteners - model number 14.4.1B and purchased in May 2007 - were missing from her home. From our enquiries, it is doubtful that she would take them to work in her blue and grey Karrimor bag which has also never been found.”

He said techniques not available in 2009 had uncovered additional fingerprints that need to be identified. Mr Malyn said: “There is also other DNA material from items examined in the house that have been recovered. Forensic work is ongoing in respect of these items.”

He told a press conference in York that his team had also found the DNA profile of an unknown man on a cigarette butt in Miss Lawrence’s Vauxhall Corsa.

The car was in a local garage at the time of the disappearance but Mr Malyn said the profile did not relate to any man who had yet come forward.

He said it was reasonable to consider whether there was a link between this man and an individual spotted by a witness who has been known throughout the five-year investigation as the “left-handed smoker”. This man was seen smoking with a woman on Melrosegate Bridge at 5.35am on March 19, when Miss Lawrence would have been walking to work.

Mr Malyn said: “Despite numerous high-profile appeals, neither the man or the woman have been traced.”

Mr Malyn also discussed new evidence derived from calls made from Miss Lawrence’s missing mobile phone to suggest she had been spending time in the Acomb area of York in the weeks up to her disappearance. He said “We believe she may have been socialising with a person or persons. Again, we would like to know who this was and where it was taking place.”

Mr Malyn said he believed the silver Samsung D900 mobile was deliberately turned off by someone at about 12.10pm on March 19. Officers also want to trace a man who told staff in a Co-op store at Tang Hall in York that he knew Miss Lawrence or used to work with her on April 1.

Mr Malyn said: “The pain, anxiety and grief Claudia’s family are suffering should be uppermost in their minds when making the decision whether or not to contact us. Unless responsible for her disappearance, it is difficult to imagine why anyone some five years later, would now not come forward in confidence and be conclusively eliminated.”

More details of the police’s investigation are expected to be released on BBC1’s Crimewatch programme at 9pm today.

And from 9.30pm a Claudia Lawrence microsite will be launched on the North Yorkshire Police website.

Independent charity Crimestoppers has offered a £10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. A reward to the same value was offered as part of the original investigation before being withdrawn in 2011.

Anyone with information should call North Yorkshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.