Claudia Lawrence Timeline

I have finally finished an initial version of the timeline of the final days of Claudia Lawrence, who disappeared near York in March 2009. She has not been seen since.

The Claudia Lawrence case has always stuck in my mind. I was Claudia’s age, within a year or two, and she lived close to my hometown. I know York quite well. Claudia was never found, which automatically linked the case with Suzy Lamplugh in my mind and there are similarities between the two cases: Suzy was never found either. But Suzy disappeared in 1986, before the widespread use of CCTV. It is the many sightings of Claudia on CCTV in the hours before she disappeared that are the striking hallmark of this case. Her car was in the garage being repaired, so we see Claudia herself walking past various cameras at the university and on her normal walking route to work. This is important, even vital evidence. Yet there are no images of Claudia on the day she disappeared. She is last seen near her home on the previous afternoon, which to my mind makes it important to note that she could just as easily come to harm on the night of Wednesday 18th March as on the morning of Thursday 19th. Although the police always have more information than they publish, all of the evidence shared so far supports either Wednesday night or Thursday morning as the moment when Claudia came to harm.

Peter Lawrence holds a photo of his daughter, Claudia Lawrence