'Jealous partner' theory on missing Claudia

THE family of missing Claudia Lawrence said yesterday they believe she could have fallen victim to a jealous partner of one of the married men with whom she had a relationship.

A massive police investigation which has been upgraded to a murder hunt has failed to provide any clear evidence as to what happened to Miss Lawrence, who was last seen alive a year ago this Thursday.

As the first anniversary of her disappearance approaches, the missing York University chef’s father Peter Lawrence and sister Ali Sims have both revealed their growing fears that she could have come to harm at the hands of a jealous wife or partner.

Detectives involved in the North Yorkshire Police inquiry have been focusing on Miss Lawrence’s complex love life in which she had a series of relationships with married men.

Mother-of-two Mrs Sims, 38, who lives in Derbyshire, said: “She seems to have wound up one or two other halves along the way. Is it a crazy idea to suggest this was a revenge act?”

The police investigation has focused on Miss Lawrence’s home city of York, including her local public house, the Nag’s Head, which is only a few doors away from her terraced house in Heworth Road.

It is understood that Miss Lawrence, 36, began relationships with several men who she met while drinking in the pub, and her father admitted that the liaisons had created “awkward situations” with her lovers’ partners.

Mr Lawrence, 63, a solicitor from Slingsby in North Yorkshire, said: “Claudia was given a bit of a hard time by one or two of them – but I don’t think there were physical attacks.”

He added: “If you think of any relationships at the Nag’s Head, both the man and the woman are going to be there.”

The police investigation has followed up leads as far away as Cyprus, where Miss Lawrence regularly went on holiday, but inquiries are still centred on North Yorkshire.

Officers have also pursued a lead which traced one of Miss Lawrence’s previous partners to Ireland. While the man has been eliminated from the inquiry, he initially denied having a relationship with Miss Lawrence.

He only admitted to having the relationship in 2008 when he was personally spoken to by officers from the investigation team.

The officer leading the inquiry, Det Supt Ray Galloway, has spoken of his continued frustration over the failure of Miss Lawrence’s ex-lovers to co-operate with the murder investigation.

Miss Lawrence is thought to have had up to a dozen partners during the five years up until her disappearance, although lurid headlines about her being a marriage wrecker by some sections of the media have only increased the heartache for her family.

Mrs Sims said: “I think it has been sensationalised to a degree and she’s not that bad. I know she wasn’t a complete angel, but it got out of hand. She’s a lovely, sweet woman who did not deserve this.”

Miss Lawrence was last seen walking near her Heworth Road home on March 18 last year, and police upgraded the inquiry to a murder investigation the following month.

While the inquiry has cost the North Yorkshire force more than 550,000 and a team of 30 officers continues to work on the case, detectives have failed to establish what has happened to Miss Lawrence.

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