Mum of Claudia Lawrence who vanished 15 years ago visits her ‘haunting’ empty home as she marks ‘nightmare’ Mother’s Day
THE mum of Claudia Lawrence who disappeared 15 years ago has visited her “haunting” empty home as she marks a “nightmare” Mother’s Day.
Joan Lawrence has revealed she is talking to City of York Council about what the property could be used for.
Ideas include it being made into a safe house for a domestic abuse victim or a family who are homeless or as a community project for people in need.
But she findings going back to the house a “nightmare” and “heartbreaking”.
Joan told The Mirror: “It’s so haunting coming back in but I’m tied to it now. It takes so much out of me every time I walk through the front door.
“It’s a nightmare but I have to come every two weeks to comply with the building’s insurance. Every time I come here, it’s heartbreaking.”
Claudia was 35 when vanished on March 18, 2009.
It’s a nightmare. It feels like a lifetime, but even worse, a life sentence. The suffering is unbearable
Joan Lawrence
She worked in the kitchens at the University of York’s Goodricke College from 6am to 2pm.
On the day she went missing, she told her mum on the phone she was at home and planned to have an early night.
While touring the property, Joan points out damaged plasterwork and Claudia’s broken belongings, including a mirror, a vase and picture frames.
The property is caught in a timewarp and a toastie maker is sit on the kitchen counter.
Joan said: “It’s a nightmare. It feels like a lifetime, but even worse, a life sentence. The suffering is unbearable.”
She added that she does her best to keep going but the pain “never goes away”.
Joan revealed that on every Mother’s Day she re-reads the cards Claudia sent her at her own home in Malton, North Yorkshire.
She said it broke her heart to think that she may never get another one from her daughter.
Claudia was reported missing on March 20, 2009, having missed two shifts at work and an appointment to meet up with a friend.
MURDER INVESTIGATION
Police initially treated it as a missing person case but after five weeks, cops said they were treating it as a murder investigation.
Joan said she classed Mother’s Day weekend as the anniversary of Claudia’s disappearance.
She spent the day with her eldest daughter Ali, saying she was “very conscious” that Ali has lost her sister.
Claudia’s dad Peter Lawrence delivered the heartbreaking news about his daughter in a phone call to Ali.
He died in February 2021 at the age of 74.
With the police treating the case as a murder inquiry, Claudia’s home was considered a crime scene and when she was eventually allowed back in, she was shocked by the state it was in.
‘COMPLETE MESS’
Joan claims the cops left it in a “complete mess”; they had ripped out the carpet on the stairs, plasterwork had been damaged and vases had been broken.
Claudia had bought the house in 2007, some 18 months before vanishing.
Joan said her daughter liked “properties with character” and her house had the original fireplace, dating from 1823, complete with the Victorian tiles.
On the mantelpiece in the lounge sits a small candle, with Joan saying it was from the last Christmas we had together.
As she goes around the house, she checks all the lights are working and looks around in dismay as she points out the damage.
Boxes are also lying about, some with kitchen pan and another with VHS tapes marked with handwritten labels.
Next to that is some romantic fiction, including Marian Keyes’ novel Sushi for Beginners.
Joan said that in the early days of the inquiry, when the cops showed her pictures of the house, it was “too immaculate”.
‘SOMEONE HAD CLEANED UP’
While she said Claudia was tidy, Joan said the place looked like “someone had cleaned up” and it was “obvious” someone had been in to rearrange things.
Joan also highlighted there had been a pair of “very old-fashioned slippers” which weren’t Claudia’s as hers were brand new and she would never wear something like that.
She said what happened in the first 72 hours were critical and until that was solved it remained a “nightmare”.
Joan also said potential evidence was found in the house after a new police detective took over the investigation.
She claimed that some DNA that had been found hadn’t been traced.
Before the house can be put to some charitable use, Joan said it needs a “good sort-out” including a lick of paint, the plasterwork fixing and new carpets fitted.
But as Joan is 80 now doing that would be “quite the battle”.
The garden would also need clearing as it has now been taken over by brambles.
Joan said: “I feel haunted by the house and haunted by thoughts about what has happened to her.”