Claudia Lawrence mother reaches out to Nicola Bulley’s family as her missing daughter turns 49

Nicola’s body was recently found in the River Wyre in Lancashire, three weeks after she disappeared while walking her dog.

Claudia’s mother Joan Lawrence said the similarities to her own daughter’s disappearance and coverage of the case brought back the trauma.

Claudia Lawrence was 35 when she was last seen walking to her home in Heworth at the end of her shift as a chef at York University on March 18th 2009.

Although she chatted to both her mother Joan and her father Peter that evening on the phone she was never seen again.

Joan spoke of how the search for Nicola had brought back what she and her family went through.

Speaking just weeks before the 14th anniversary of Claudia’s mysterious disappearance, she said: “I like to make contact with these families and see if I can help them. I’d love to do this with Nicola’s family.”

Joan said that often families feel isolated and are “glad of someone to talk to who’s been there.”

She also spoke about the grief of facing another birthday without knowing where her own daughter is.

Joan appealed for anyone with information to come forward with some answers.

She was speaking to her friend, former ITV calendar presenter Christine Talbot, who has covered Claudia’s case closely over the years.

The pair meet regularly at a hotel in Malton near where Joan lives.

She said: “There’s never a closure because you never expect that to happen, it doesn’t matter how old they are, they’re still your child.

“It never gets any easier.”

Joan still has the last birthday present bought for Claudia in her wardrobe.

She said: “We would go out to choose something she wanted. But now there’s no cards, there’s no flowers, there’s no presents.

“I hate to say there’s no grave because I just don’t know.

“I just hope and pray that somebody out there knows what has happened.”

Peter Lawrence died in February 2021 without finding out what happened to his daughter. In his final years he had campaigned vigorously for the introduction of Claudia’s Law to help the families of missing people deal more easily with their affairs.

Claudia was last seen at around 3.05pm at the junction of Heworth Road and East Parade, walking back towards her home on Heworth Road. She was also captured on CCTV as she left Goodricke College and as she walked home.

Although a number of arrests were made by North Yorkshire Police in subsequent years and a quarry at Sand Hutton was searched in 2021, no charges related to Claudia Lawrence’s

disappearance has ever been brought.

Appeals for information have continued and the inquiry remains open.

If you have any information that could assist the investigation, please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 1, and pass details to the Force Control Room quoting “Claudia Lawrence”.

If you would prefer to remain anonymous, please pass information to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 quoting “Claudia Lawrence, North Yorkshire Police”. A report can also be made online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.