Police are planning to return to Claudia Lawrence’s house after a podcaster found a ‘secret’ loft above clothing at the missing woman’s home behind wardrobe doors.
The chef was 35 years old when she failed to report for work at York University in March 2009 in what became one of the best-known unsolved crimes in decades.
North Yorkshire Police conducted two investigations relating to Miss Lawrence’s disappearance and suspected murder, but no charges have ever been brought.
Now, journalist Tom McDermott has made a series of major discoveries with Miss Lawrence’s mother Joan when they visited the house, which remains empty.
In a new episode of the podcast ‘Answers for Claudia‘, he heard from a witness called Dave who claimed to have seen a woman about 20 miles away on the A1M near Wetherby the night before Miss Lawrence was last known to have gone to work.
Dave recalled pulling over and calling police – and when he saw Miss Lawrence’s face on the news a few days later, he said: ‘That’s the woman off the A1, that’s her.’
The witness said he believed the woman was wearing a leather jacket, which prompted the podcast team and Mrs Lawrence to look for jackets inside the house.
This search uncovered a jacket with two tissues and an opened chewing gum packet inside the pockets, but Mr McDermott also noticed a loft hatch. He later went up into the area with a torch, finding yellow insulation material as well as a table leg.
Claudia Lawrence went missing in York in March 2009 and police believe she was murdered
Police officers outside the home of university chef Claudia Lawrence in Heworth, York, in 2013
Claudia Lawrence is pictured with her mother Joan Lawrence, who still harbours hopes her daughter is still alive but has vowed never again to give police the keys to the house
Mr McDermott passed on his findings to police and has been in weekly contact with Jon Sygrove, the new senior investigating officer on Miss Lawrence’s case.
The officer told Mr McDermott that police would like to visit the house again and meet with Mrs Lawrence – but she has insisted she won’t allow any new search to be unsupervised, given how she feels the force has failed her previously.
Mr McDermott was also told by officers that ‘whilst they hadn’t been up to the loft in their initial searches, they did use a camera device to have a quick look inside’.
Responding to the update, a North Yorkshrie Police spokesman said: ‘The new senior investigating officer intends to visit Claudia’s home for familiarisation purposes only.
‘This is not for the purpose of conducting any operational or forensic enquiries.’
In the latest episode of the podcast titled ‘Moving The Dial’, Mr McDermott spoke about how he explained to Mrs Lawrence that witness Dave mentioned that the woman he saw who he believed was the chef was wearing a leather jacket.
While at the house on a recent visit, Mrs Lawrence said she would have a look in her daughter’s wardrobe to see if there were any leather jackets or anything else that may resemble Dave’s account of what she was wearing.
She and Mr McDermott went upstairs into Miss Lawrence’s bedroom where they got out four jackets, including three leather ones and another that could be confused in the dark for a leather jacket, and placed them on a handrail.
Mr McDermott said: ‘Joan put her hand, her right hand, and I’ll never forget her face, into the left pocket of one of the jackets. And when she put her hand in, she said ‘Oh my God’. And there was a pause and a stillness in the room.
‘And when she pulled her hand out, she had two tissues that had been folded over, which were clearly from 2009 and from the last time Claudia would have worn that jacket.
‘Two tissues. And in another jacket pocket, there was an opened half-empty packet of Extra chewing gum. It was folded over at the top.’
Mr McDermott went on to explain how he uncovered the loft, saying: ‘It does feel strange going into Claudia’s room. Her wardrobe stretches along the left wall of the bedroom.
‘It’s built in, with two wooden doors opening out to reveal a sizeable space. Shelves on the right and two clothes rails, one above the over, on the left.
‘While we were inside the wardrobe putting Claudia’s leather jackets back, I spotted something in the ceiling right about our heads. A hatch. Had this been searched?
‘Now the loft in length was probably, I don’t know, from my hip to my knee, and 30 or 40cm wide. And the loft, Joan asked me to press to see if it was open – and I did. And sure enough, pressed the loft, the hatch went up.’
He said that once he and Mrs Lawrence had ‘got over the shock’ and sat down for a cup of coffee, they informed the police of their discovery.
Mr McDermott said police told him that ‘they would spend a period of time looking back over their records and accounts of what happened in the house and what they’d searched, before making a decision as to what they’d do next.’
He added that he had ‘no idea’ of what he might find inside the loft, adding that the hatch was ‘small and difficult to reach’ and he needed help to get up there when he decided to take a look.
The podcast features audio of the moment Mr McDermott went inside, as he says: ‘Let me get my torch. It’s covered with the, how do you describe it, the yellow insulation. But it’s obviously fragmented and broken, but it’s covered with the insulation.
‘There’s a table leg in there. I don’t think, looking at it, in the same way as when we looked at the clothes, I don’t think anybody’s been in there.’
Speaking later about his findings, he said: ‘It’s eerily quiet up there. It’s not a huge space, but significant. It’s hard to believe given I’ve been in the house so many times that this might not have been searched too.
‘I climb back down the stepladder and fortunately I haven’t disturbed any of the clothes still hanging in the wardrobe below.’
Having told police about his findings, Mr McDermott received a text message from Mr Sygrove just before Christmas, adding that ‘what he told me is the biggest development since we started the podcast’ in April last year.
Mr McDermott said: ‘He said in light of the information we and witnesses had provided, he wants Joan’s permission to return to Claudia’s house. The police are going back in. So what does this mean? Well, first the SIO will meet with Joan.
Claudia Lawrence’s father Peter died in 2021, never knowing what happened to his daughter
Joan Lawrence found two tissues and a packet of chewing in her daughter Claudia’s jacket
An aerial view of the house of missing Claudia Lawrence on Heworth Road in York
‘Then he will go back into Claudia’s house. This will be the first time the police have set foot in the house for the best part of a decade. I wondered, if they were to forensically search Claudia’s house, which would be the next logical step, what would that mean?’
Professor Emmeline Taylor, professor of criminology at City St George’s, University of London spoke to the podcast and explained how the discovery of the coat and the items inside it could be important.
She said: ‘The potential for those personal items – you know, a lipstick, a tissue, chewing gum, to reveal who she was with, I think really holds some promise.
‘Think about when you have chewing gum. You take a chewing gum out of your pocket and you offer the packet to whoever you’re with, it’s something that you share. So I think to test that is really key.
‘I’d be really keen to test the coat itself. You know, has somebody given her a hug, a cuddle? Has somebody grabbed her by the lapels? I’d be really interested – is there any identifying protein?
Cameras from ITV’s This Morning were allowed inside Claudia Lawrence’s home in 2017
‘So whether that’s blood or bone or other biological materials. What that can do is match bodily fluids, even if they’ve been quite degraded over a long period of time.’
She added that police could still conduct a forensic investigation when so many years have passed, explaining that there could be a DNA match with someone on a database of people who have been arrested.
Ms Taylor continued: ‘What’s really exciting within forensic science now is that it can begin to give you details about that individual – potentially their age, their hair colour, their eye colour.
‘So if it’s not throwing up any matches, you can actually begin to have a profile – and I think that’s possibly, hopefully where this case could begin to throw up a few more answers than it has previously.’
Mr McDermott said police are now talking with him each week and Mr Sygrove ‘has concrete plans to go back into the house’, which the journalist said ‘seems like a huge step forward for the case’.
ITV cameras were allowed inside Claudia Lawrence’s home for This Morning in February 2017
However, Mrs Lawrence is still unsure about the idea, saying: ‘I think I’ve lost all trust and faith in the police. It’s coming up to 16 years and I’ve had enough. I’ve honestly had enough.
‘If they were going to do anything, they should have done something before now. Everything connected with the police takes a very long time.
‘And I’m 81. And I would love to see… some good’s got to come out of it. They’ve let me down so badly for such a long time, haven’t they?’
Mr McDermott suggested to Mrs Lawrence that police would meet with her and ask to go back in, but she responded: ‘Well I’d never give North Yorkshire Police a key for Claudia’s house, never.’
She was also asked whether she would find some form of closure if the officers completed a full search of the house and found nothing else to help with the investigation.
Her boxed belongings could be seen placed underneath the staircase of her home in 2017
But Mrs Lawrence said: ‘No, because I’ve never trusted them that much. I’ve no faith in them. The police, no matter what it is, the emotion side doesn’t come into it with them at all. And it’s a long time.
‘It’s a hell of a long time isn’t it? And I don’t know how much longer I want to go on with it. I vowed I’d never have them in my house again. How long’s it going to go on again and again and again before they do anything?’
At the time of recording, Mrs Lawrence confirmed she would meet with Mr Sygrove along with Mr McDermott.
She added: ‘If any of this happened, I would want somebody with me. I would never trust them. I’m very fussy who I let into Claudia’s house.’
The podcast also featured an interview with another potential witness called Bev, who claims to have found a purple and blue rucksack like the one missing from Miss Lawrence’s home when she walked her dog near the River Tees at Ingleby Barwick – around 40 miles from York – days after the chef’s disappearance.
The search was launched after she did not turn up at her local pub The Nag’s Head in York
The rucksack contained some sandwiches wrapped in foil. She left it alone but returned later to look for it again and it had gone.
Later, speaking to the Mirror, Mrs Lawrence confirmed she had ‘absolutely no idea’ the secret loft existed until she visited recently with the podcast crew.
Although she wants the new area to be searched after the revelation, she said she doesn’t want police inside the property as she has ‘lost all faith and trust in them’.
But she vowed ‘never’ to give North Yorkshire Police the keys to Miss Lawrence’s home, saying the last time officers searched the property they left it a ‘mess’.
She told the newspaper: ‘I’m utterly exhausted. Every time I find something new it emotionally drains me and reminds me I have had absolutely no closure.
‘I don’t want the police to do it alone as they didn’t get it right the first time. I’d be happier with someone like the charity Locate International going in.’
A search in 2021 at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits near York, finding ‘nothing of obvious significance’
Miss Lawrence’s father Peter Lawrence died in 2021 without knowing what happened to his daughter – and her house has been left empty since she went missing.
The search for Miss Lawrence was launched after her friend grew worried when she did not turn up at her local pub The Nag’s Head.
Friends informed Mr Lawrence the next day when she still failed to answer any calls. He visited her home in the Heworth area of York to find she was nowhere to be seen.
Five weeks after she was reported as a missing person, the case was escalated to a suspected murder investigation – despite her body never being found.
What ensued was a search costing more than £1.5million, with hundreds of officers working to piece together what happened to the chef.
North Yorkshire Police has conducted two investigations and questioned nine people but no charges have ever been brought in regards to Miss Lawrence’s case.
Police believe that she was murdered, yet her body has never actually been found. A number of searches were conducted as recently as 2021 but to no avail.
A man is seen lurking on Heworth Road in York near the home of missing chef Claudia Lawrence on Wednesday, March 18 in 2009, the last night before she failed to turn up to work
Mrs Lawrence still harbours hopes her daughter is still alive and earlier this month of her fresh torment after her daughter’s childhood best friend was murdered by an abusive partner.
She said the killing of Lisa Welford – who suffered fatal brain injuries in April when Vincent Morgan held her down in the River Derwent – reopened old wounds.
‘I didn’t cope well,’ she said. ‘It brought all the pain back of when Claudia went missing. It’s such a crushing, all-consuming pain. How could two children that had grown up together have such terrible things happen to them?
‘I also knew Claudia would have been devastated to hear about Lisa, as Lisa was when Claudia went missing. She would be crushed.’
Despite a court order banning contact, Morgan, 47, and Ms Welford, 49, spent the day together drinking and ended up by the river in Malton, North Yorkshire.
In a violent attack he broke her leg and, as she lay prone on a riverbank, pulled her into the water and held her beneath the surface, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Paramedics revived Ms Welford, but she had suffered brain damage and died the next day. Morgan was jailed for a minimum of 21 years.