Missing Caudia's family pin hopes on new TV film

A 30-minute documentary outlining the ordeal that Miss Lawrence's friends and family have endured since she vanished in March last year will be screened on Channel 4 next month.

Peter Lawrence claimed that the film would reach a new television audience which he hoped could bring in key information to help find his daughter.

The documentary was screened during a Press briefing at the Palace Cinema in Malton, and Mr Lawrence admitted that he had found it extremely emotional to watch.

Mr Lawrence, 64, a solicitor from Slingsby, said: "I think I have found it more difficult to speak than at any other media briefing. This has brought so much of the last 16 months back, and it is difficult to watch all that has happened.

"But I just hope that this documentary will help solve what has happened to Claudia. As I have always said, it is the not knowing that is the most difficult thing. We simply need to have a resolution, for the sake of all of Claudia's friends and family."

The documentary includes interviews with two of Miss Lawrence's closest friends, Suzy Cooper and Jen King, who both speak about their heartache since the York University chef vanished at the age of 35.

Miss Lawrence was last seen walking near her Heworth Road home in York after finishing work on March 18 last year.

North Yorkshire Police upgraded the inquiry to a murder investigation the following month, and detectives have been focusing on Miss Lawrence's complex love life in which she had a series of relationships with married men.

One of the biggest recent developments emerged four months ago 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.

Missing - The Claudia Lawrence Story will be shown on Channel 4 at 7.30pm on Friday, August 13.