Missing Claudia’s mother using civic honour to help rebuild her life

Joan Lawrence has become the mayor of Malton in North Yorkshire, where she has been a town councillor for the past six years.

Mrs Lawrence, who has served as the deputy mayor, assumed the town’s leading civic role after taking over from her predecessor, Jason Fitzgerald-Smith.

She said she has endured a “nightmare situation” since Miss Lawrence vanished more than four years ago in March 2009.

But Mrs Lawrence stressed that becoming the mayor of Malton
is helping her to rebuild her
life and that she is looking forward to her term of office. She paid
tribute to Mr Fitzgerald-Smith who had served as Malton’s
mayor for four years and has now been appointed the deputy
mayor.

Mrs Lawrence revealed that she is confident there would be “massive changes” in the North Yorkshire Police investigation into the disappearance of her daughter following new contact being made by senior officers.

The detective who had led the police inquiry, Ray Galloway, retired as a detective superintendent from the North Yorkshire force in February, and the missing woman’s mother has called for a full review of the case.

Miss Lawrence was aged 35 when she was last seen walking near her Heworth Road home in York on March 18, 2009.

The missing person inquiry was upgraded to a murder investigation the month after she vanished, but detectives have failed to find any trace of her.