“It Was Someone She KNEW” The Shocking Truth Behind Claudia Lawrence's Murder

this is the last time Claudia Lawrence was seen the 35-year-old chef from York disappeared without a trace on March 18th last year the single barrier to unlocking the answers for Claudia's loved ones and bringing those responsible for her disappearance to Justice Remains the Same in my view and that's silence hello and welcome back to a brand new series of crime suspect each week we'll be unraveling some of the UK's most prolific crimes as well as providing in-depth analysis on the criminality that plagues our nation on the show today missing or murdered the case of Claudia Lawrence saw numerous appeals arrests and searches but her body has never been found now as police launch a fresh investigation 15 years on could one of the country's most intriguing unsolved crimes finally be solved next up we'll be bringing you the best and worst of policing with our good cop bad cop and finally it's your chance to book a crook as we show you this week's wanted joining me for all of this today is criminologist and author James Treadwell journalist and author Neil root who has written the excellent book gone about The Disappearance of Claudia Lawrence editor and co-founder of the steeple times Matthew Steeples and last but certainly not least former Police Inspector and now a visiting lecturer at Le's Trinity University Mar in Hollin thank you thank you all for being here now you have the right to remain watching this is crime [Music] suspect this year marks the 15th anniversary since Claudia Lawrence vanished on the evening of March the 18th 2009 sparking a 1 million pound Manhunt and making it the biggest and most complex missing person inquiry in the history of North Yorkshire police Claudia was 35 when she disappeared on her way to work at York University Police believe that she was murdered and have desperately probed into her past her relationships and her work life in an effort to find her early in the investigation a number of people were arrested but no one has been charged and despite a string of theories over the years including fears she may have been trafficked to Amsterdam or moved to Cyprus Claudia's disappearance sadly remains a mystery Martin the latest senior investigating officer to be in charge of this case uh a detective called Wayne fox has said that silence is what is probably obstructing the inquiry what do you think it would take for somebody who knows Vital Information to break that silence and come forward and tell what they know I think he makes a very good point Peter I think the idea that uh somebody within the community does know and is aware of potentially what happened Claudia is probably true uh and I think that people should feel um safe in the knowledge that they will be supported by the police if they came forward it's 15 years since Claudia disappeared and I think now is an very important time to keep this in the public eye for the sake of Joan her mother and it's a time that somebody could come forward after 15 years and feel safe in the knowledge that they will be supported by the police service and the local community as well yeah because we often hear these days don't we when the police say allegiances might change over the years that's a common line that they use and also on a number of other cases the police have said we have experience in looking after people that come forward um if a vital witness would have to have their life to turned upside down because for example they had to go into witness protection would you be confident that North Yorkshire would reinvent that person look after them suitably and ensure that they had a satisfying life going forwards after that absolutely I I appreciate that the person would have to give up a previous life and give up attachments that theyve forged over a number of years but I feel absolutely sure that North Yorkshire police would support them in a future life change event that they need to go through Neil you've been the real boots on the ground so to speak as you wrote this highly commended book about Claudia's disappearance and you had the cooperation of Claudia's late Father Peter May rest in peace from everything that I've read about this case this is not serious organized crime so therefore the necessity for somebody to perhaps go into witness protection and reinvent their life might not actually be a necessity what's your thoughts on who may or may not be responsible over the years I mean when I first wrote the book which is 11 years ago now I was very open-minded at the time because there were no pointers um and I entertain it could be a random predator or somebody she knew but over time I firmly come to the conclusion in my own mind just my opinion that it was definitely some is she knew personally and that's why I really don't believe a few years ago that people were pointing a finger at the um convicted murderer Christopher halwell I really didn't believe that he you somebody like him um but I also have come to conclusion actually I thought this quite early on I think she never left for work that morning I personally think that she went the evening before I personally think when she spoke to her mother Joan she might have been in the house or she might have been somewhere else I've got a feeling she went to somebody's house and never left or got in a car with somebody and never arrived at their house a lot of the witness sightings on the early morning um maybe although they had to be investigated maybe slight red herrings personally um just a quick question in all the time that you spent on the ground as a journalist and author were you either warned off or subjected to any threats I was never actually threatened or warned off I even spent a night in the Nag's Head um you know to get a feel of it you know I me it's three years later obviously um and I listened I went down to the bar for a few drinks if I could pick anything up I did find hostility um but it was mainly because Fleet Street had turned over Huth three years previously uh and I had people say we don't talk about that anymore we don't want to talk about that the reason I raise it is because I've read a lot of articles about threats being issued to journalists so naturally I was going to ask you and on that very note threatening journalists attempting to report on Claudia's disappearance has been common um and according to one startled Sky news reporter who was the north of England correspondent Gerald tub when he was investigating and Reporting on Claudia's disappearance he wrote an article in 2015 and he wrote for a privately educated daughter of a country solicitor Claudia had some unusual acquaintances and this Remains the only missing person case where I've been warned off or threatened not once but twice he also went on to say and why are there so many undercurrents to the mystery with some people still unwilling to talk to journalists and others issuing warnings or threats now James I heard some murmurings from this side of the room when Neil was speaking but specifically when um phones were mentioned I think Claudia's mobile phone for me holds many of the keys and that's one of the reasons that the police have never fully revealed for example the the geolocation of where those final phone calls to both her father and mother were made from um I I think we what we have to understand is is that a narrative was established around this case very early on it the Trap is easy to fall into to that this is an abduction as it were what we know with certainty and we don't know a lot with certainty here but we we do know that her house was not the crime scene of the scene of of Claudia's murder or abduction or abduction her mobile phone was deliberately disconnected at at 12:05 but if Claudia did not leave her house on the morning and and if the eyewitness testimony that that framed the investigation at the early stages was one of a number of Errors indeed the very photo fit that was issued to look like Claudia with blonde hair didn't look like her at the time there were there were mistakes made and of course her disappearance is only belatedly discovered the the the definitive narrative that's kind of come out has been in the early stages The Disappearance and then an abduction and we don't know that that's the case what we do know with with a greater degree of of certainty is that when people come to harm it's very very rare that that happens at the hands of a stranger it's far far more likely that it's at the hands of a person or persons who are known to them and and I think what we likely see in this case is that all of the evidence is actually there already in the files and in in the investigations it the reason that the police are appealing and it's not just saying sometimes that people aren't telling us things the police have also said at stages that people are deliberately lying to us they are misleading us I think that there is there is there are answers there and there are answers there within a 10m location of of when Claudia went missing and within a 10hour window of that time and and the case is still solvable it's very very solvable I've got to agree with the points that have been made um I firmly believe that it is somebody that's known to Claudia either that um she's been in a relationship with or wanted to have a relationship with her there must be some connection because as saying most disappearances or most murder investigations or abductions it is normally somebody who is known to the individual yeah about 95% yes indeed homicides are committed by someone known to the victim Neil did you get any hint or suggestion as to somebody who might be motivated to commit a crime like this there were several people uh not naming any names obviously of course um and there were one or two people who perhaps had slightly Shady slightly heavy local connections um uh which could raise eybrows maybe uh the kind of people who uh might go further than others you know um there's also it was big in the press that it could be like the wife of someone she had an affair with or something like that I think that's possible but I think that's you know unlikely cuz it's very extreme you know um as said it's very solvable Matthew it wasn't only some rather clumsy media coverage and inquiries in this case that irritated local people I think the police were uh some of their actions were frowned upon particularly when they dug up the Sellar of a pub yes there was a a man who ran a pub and the concrete that was dug up was 20 years old and he was he tried to point this out to the police and they still dug up his Cellar and he ended up C campaigning with Theresa May about this matter of intrusion and he was a father of five children and he was very very upset about this and you know there was no evidence that she had been at his particular Pub the Betrayal of this lady as someone who was spending all her time in pubs um if that had been a man they it would have been handled very differently it would be you know a for him he's enjoying himself you know he's having a few flings and this that and the other but the portrayal of of her as a that kind of woman her mother speaks of her daughter as you know someone who was decent good faith and and happy and and kept in contact with her but what I did find Curious was as was said earlier people compartmentalize their lives the mother spoke of how she didn't really go to her daughter's house she didn't really know what went on at that house they used to meet in public place so there is obviously some part of her life that something happened there the the fact she didn't take a passport from the house you know the house was left in a tidy fashion which if somebody is abducted there's generally a bit of a struggle you would expect to have found something a Miss there and there is of course no harm whatsoever and it's against no laws of the land to compartmentalize your life to have some secrets that you don't tell other people and it's certainly not a crime to enjoy a drink in a pub James talking of um Claudia's home address was there any evidence of any property missing or any disturbance there whatsoever there's no evidence of a disturbance what we what we know is that there were several items missing from Claudia's home her her Chef white said a rook sack and her mobile phone have never been traced I I think we also don't know because it's never been revealed at what point the police know that she was last at the property um so there is the the case of it being an abduction on her way to work relies on her stopping the night in that accommodation leaving the next morning and we don't know that that's ever happened it may well have been that she's returned stayed some time and left again the thing that's interesting about that and and Neil's already picked up on it if people leave they get seen even in smaller Village communities in in the evening Cara picked up on CCTV people's movements are heard these well these might not be um Metropolitan Center it might not be a Metropolitan Center like Birmingham or London you know people hear doors slamming they they hear voices they you know people see people's movements there is of course a CCTV sighting at 5:50 a.m. of a man with a hoodie at the back of Claudia's property as a Police Inspector former Police Inspector surely you would think that of potential significant oh yeah I think the um I think some of the CCTV is very significant the when you see the U the person who is probably going to be male by the look of it I know it's poor and grainy but you would suggest that it probably was a male goes around the back of the house and then returns a few minutes later I think the very important bit is where somebody is then walking along the main road and that individual pauses deliberately to allow that person to walk along the main Road there is no need if unless you do not want to be seen or recognized there's no need for you to pause there was plenty of room plenty of space so I think that particular piece of uh evidence there is really significant and important and possibly plays into what we've heard so much about about people not saying what they know potentially so 15 years on Neil I'm a sickeningly optimistic sort of bloke but I'll say set that aside what do you think about the likelihood of this case case ever being solved I honestly do think it will be solved I really do I think there's so many cases internationally that have been solved it I hopefully it's going to be in our lifetime um and I do hope it's going to be the next few years obviously so that uh claud's mother Joan is still here you know to find answer um and of course her sister Ally as well um it's it's just a case of somebody's got to break that silence and I really do think somebody will somebody will break that silence well I hope in some way that this upcoming podcast that I know is going to drop in a two or three weeks or time might well help and I hope that this today will go some way perhaps towards persuading that person who knows the truth who holds that secret to come forward and tell us Crim Stoppers the police whoever they want exactly what they know and in any event gentlemen I thank you all very much indeed thank you thank you right moving on to this week's cop watch this week's good cop Spotlight goes to a metropolitan police officer who bravely stopped a young woman being strangled in an East London Street attack the officer a Chief Inspector attached to the Mets royalty and specialist protection command was driving past with a family member when he saw the incident and bravely stopped to intervene he was off duty both parties were injured with the senior officer sustaining serious arm and facial injuries the suspect is currently remanded in custody awaiting his first Crown court appearance bad cop this week is detective Chief superintendent Paul Livingston the head of serious crime in police Scotland who's facing disciplinary action following a complaint made by the family of aliser Wilson who was shot dead on his doorstep in N nearly 20 years ago a case that has yet to be solved the Force's internal Watchdog ruled that Livingston lied to the family by denying that a specific date had been identified for the arrest of a suspect to lie to the family of a murder victim is utterly abor I sincerely hope that a suitable punishment is handed down all right it's time for the part of the show where we bring you mugs of thugs who are terrorizing our streets have you seen these criminals first up the Met police are urgently hunting for a killer who's fled a psychiatric hospital in homon East London Philip theop pilu stabbed his neighbor to death two decades ago and was sent to the special hospital without limit of time under the mental health act Theo filu was last pictured wearing a gray jumper blue jeans black jacket and a black jumper next we have this suspect police want to identify the man in this image in connection with an incident in which two men were racially abused and a house booat was broken into in Bristol he's described as white in his 50s with black hair but partially bold and around 5'8 in tall lastly have you seen wanted man James karthy from dunsfold who is wanted for breach of Court bail conditions Cary is described as white around 5 fo 7 in tall with short dark hair and he speaks with an Irish accent Crimestoppers is also offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information on his whereabouts if you think you know or have seen any of these Crooks get in touch anonymously with Crim stoppers on 800 51 right that's all we've got time for this week many thanks to James Neil Matthew and Martin stay safe and we'll see you next week for more crime [Music] suspect

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Keywords: talkradio, talk radio, news, uk, politics, debate, free speech, freedom of expression, talk tv, live, live news, talktv live, talk tv live, talktv, claudia lawrence, crime, real crime, real crime uk, Alistair Wilson, east london attack, disappearance, James Treadwell, neil root, peter bleksley, criminology, missing person, Martin Holleran, claudia lawrence murder, claudia lawrence disappearance

Id: h01Qgm0zfbE

Length: 21min 22sec (1282 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024