The mum of Claudia Lawrence is in talks with the council to use her daughter’s house for a good cause, 15 years after her disappearance.
Joan Lawrence wants the cottage to be put towards a charitable purpose.
‘Whether it be a family who are homeless, or someone who has had to escape their own home such as housing a homeless family or acting as a shelter for someone fleeing domestic abuse.’ she said.
The distraught mum is already in discussions with City of York Council about the future of the house.
Ms Lawrence hopes that the building can be put to good use after revealing that she finds returning to her daughter’s home, frozen in time, very painful.
‘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.’ she told The Mirror.
Claudia Lawrence (pictured) was 35 when she mysteriously vanished after failing to turn up for work at the University of York on March 18 2009
Ms Lawrence’s father, Peter (pictured together), died without knowing what happened to his daughter
Claudia’s mother Joan Lawrence has previously said she has been in a ‘living nightmare’ following disappearance 15 years ago
Claudia was 35 when she mysteriously vanished after failing to turn up for work at the University of York on March 18 2009.
Police believe that the chef – who lived in the Heworth area of York – was murdered, although no body has ever been discovered.
Nearly 15 years after her daughter disappeared, Ms Lawrence, 80, is still searching for answers. Despite North Yorkshire Police conducting two investigations, the case remains unsolved.
‘All I want on Claudia’s birthday is to know what has happened. No matter how old your children are, they are still your babies,’ the grief-stricken mother told The Mirror.
‘This is draining for all of us. As a family, we have had to live in a state of limbo for far too long,’ she added.
Ms Lawrence added that ‘no parent should have to endure this amount of pain’ and that she relives the horrors of her daughter’s disappearance every day. Claudia’s mother says she will buy her daughter a bunch of purple tulips and light a candle for her at church, as she does every year.
In the years since Claudia went missing, 12 people have been arrested but no charges have ever been brought.
Her disappearance sparked the biggest and most complex missing person inquiry in North Yorkshire Police’s history.
Police activity around Claudia’s case increased in 2021 when the North Yorkshire force spent two weeks searching a lake and nearby woods just outside York but hopes of a breakthrough were later dashed.
Teams of police experts, search dogs, divers and forensic archaeologists spent two weeks scouring a lake and nearby woods for potential spots where her body could have been left but nothing was found.
That same year, Claudia’s father, Peter Lawrence, died aged 74. At the time of his illness, he was adamant investigators should continue looking for his daughter whatever happened to him.
Retired solicitor Mr Lawrence had tirelessly campaigned for information to try to find his daughter and had battled for legislation to help families in similar positions.
Mr Lawrence received an OBE for helping to shape the 2017 Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act, known informally as Claudia’s Law.
Police officers searching the land at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits near York in connection with the disappearance in August 2021 but have yet to crack the case
The law, known informally as Claudia’s Law, created a new legal status of guardian of the affairs of a missing person, allowing someone to act in their best interests after they have been gone for 90 days or more.
The new legislation means families can oversee the financial and property affairs of their missing loved one, if the person has been missing for 90 days – lessening what can be a huge burden at a traumatic time.
Although police believe that Claudia is dead, Ms Lawrence still maintains hope that her daughter is still alive until she has evidence to suggest otherwise.
She said the best present she could wish for on her daughter’s birthday is ‘answers’.
