Video: Fears as Claudia cash reward is withdrawn

The move, announced 18 months after Miss Lawrence's disappearance, means North Yorkshire Police will now pull the current appeal posters from its vehicles because they refer to the money.

Crimestoppers, which had put up the cash, said as a charity it could not keep such a large reward open indefinitely.

But, speaking outside his daughter's home in Heworth, Peter Lawrence, a solicitor, said: "The impression everybody will get is the team is being wound down – posters are being removed, the reward is being removed.

"The impression people will get, unless the police say otherwise, is the investigation has been abandoned. The posters were the only visible sign of the police investigation. Everybody in the York area was able to see those posters on the side of emergency vehicles."

Claudia Lawrence has not been seen since leaving for work at York University in March 2009.

A Crimestoppers spokesman said: "This case has been the subject of three renewals. This case has had more Crimestoppers support, with regards to enhanced rewards, than any other in recent years.

"As a charity, we cannot afford to have rewards of such high figures open indefinitely, as we do get many requests for enhanced rewards on cases across the country. We must be fair to all cases and consider each case with equal sympathy."

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "We were able to renew the 10,000 reward every quarter; however, we were advised at the last renewal that this support would no longer continue. The posters displayed on our vehicle fleet will be updated and replaced."