Detectives to probe Bradford links with Claudia

More on the Bradford killings, with video

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police confirmed that officers would liaise with West Yorkshire's elite Homicide and Major Enquiry Team (HMET) over Miss Lawrence's disappearance.

The York University chef was last seen alive near her Heworth Road home after finishing work at Goodricke College on March 18 last year.

She spoke to family and friends that evening but did not turn up for work the following morning.

HMET's probe into the disappearance of sex workers in Bradford has prompted the call for co-operation.

The spokeswoman said: "Consultation will take place with our colleagues in West Yorkshire Police to ensure that any factors that are common to both cases are identified and investigated promptly."

It is the latest development in a 14-month operation which was upgraded from a missing person inquiry to a murder investigation within a month of Miss Lawrence's disappearance.

Earlier this week police seized items from a house in the village of Ellerton, East Yorkshire, and sent them for forensic tests.

The house search was ordered after police traced a man who knew Miss Lawrence.

In March detectives revealed she 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. The man is yet to be traced.

During the same month police responding to a tip-off spent four days searching land about a mile from Miss Lawrence's workplace, but later revealed that nothing of significance had been found.

North Yorkshire Police has commissioned the National Policing Improvement Agency to carry out an external review of its inquiry, with a team of investigators expected to report back next month.

It is the second such investigation into the force's handling of Miss Lawrence's case. The first praised its "integrity and objectivity".