UK UK - Claudia Lawrence, 35, Chef, York University, 18 March 2009 #13

[MEKON]

Maybe the alarm went off, perhaps she set it to go off at a certain time as she knew someone she wanted to contact would be available then, lunchtime

Maybe Claudia normally had her break at this time and was expecting an incoming call? Did someone else find out someone was ringing or texting Claudias phone. Perhaps an incoming call would reveal a secret boyfriend so a perpetrator could put their name forward. Or perhaps an incoming text at 12.10 may reveal something they needed to know?

 

[Blonderabbit]

Is it generally accepted that the poi are the only genuinely feasible perpetrators of this crime?

If you have access to the police file perhaps. The police have pursued the wrong poi’s in past cases, nothing is set in stone until conviction. Assume nothing Believe nothing Challenge everything. (As they say)

 

[Blonderabbit]

Is it generally accepted that the poi are the only genuinely feasible perpetrators of this crime?

If you have access to the police file perhaps. The police have pursued the wrong poi’s in past cases, nothing is set in stone until conviction. Assume nothing Believe nothing Challenge everything. (As they say)

It's not impossible for people in certain industries to have a Dinner break at the normal times. Surely copious departments in all types of employment, organise themselves by staggering breaks

could of just popped out for a left handed cig break

 

[Officer Dibble]

It’s natural to not want to go off on a tangent if you were getting rid of something - drop it off on the way home. Imagine if all of a sudden you had to hide a body - a river has to be a favoured place surely?

Possibly, but you didn't answer my question. What has someone living there got to do with it?

 

[Vixey]

Its perhaps the prime time for a lot of people to start their Dinner break

The function of holding the phone could be a warning of whose worried about Claudia and to give a perpetrator a warning of when people are starting to notice her missing. I would say it's also to check what these people trying to get in contact with Claudia actually know

You could perhaps assume that if there at work,then the phones been put on silent. Perhaps the phone was switched off in a Dinner break and then discarded somewhere during the test of their Dinner break

If the perpetrator were not in public,they could of been 'raking' through the phone for information

I Originally thought it was possible Claudia was put into the vehicle with her friends going to Scotland! If in the back, time/Distance may be the reason for her phone to be turned off hours later. As I said Originally and just thinking of possible scenarios x

 

[Yozzer]

Is it generally accepted that the poi are the only genuinely feasible perpetrators of this crime?

I think that is what the police think although publicly they would always say they keep an open mind. But read Dai Malyn's comments when announcing that CPS would not prosecute any of the 4 arrested men. Also this from the Asst. Chief Constable NYP:
“It remains the case that people close to Claudia have not always been entirely truthful with us and have withheld information. And this has made our task extremely difficult.
Claudia Lawrence enquiry moves to reactive phase - North Yorkshire Police

 

[keep-it-real]

It's not impossible for people in certain industries to have a Dinner break at the normal times. Surely copious departments in all types of employment, organise themselves by staggering breaks

True but given the signal of the phone took in some 7-9 miles radius of the mble phone mast at the Uni that means that any one of the hundreds if not thousands of people within that area could possibly be responsible for turning the phone off.

Ultimately it brings us back to the last known sighting of Claudia on the afternoon of Weds 18th
To move on with anything constructively you have to know what her movements were from there.

 

[3ds&p]

I Originally thought it was possible Claudia was put into the vehicle with her friends going to Scotland! If in the back, time/Distance may be the reason for her phone to be turned off hours later. As I said Originally and just thinking of possible scenarios x

But the phone pinged in York when it was switched off - not Scotland

 

[3ds&p]

Reading between the lines of what the police have released, am I correct in thinking that they believe that.....

CL was murdered by someone known to her (they / we know whom they suspect)

the murder was covered up / aided and abetted by friends/family of the purp

said ppl were arrested/ interviewed after investigation into their mobile phone records / chatter on the day they suspect she was murdered.

they haven’t ruled out she was murdered within her own property- only that her death didn’t involve the loss of blood.

Am I close?

 

[Vixey]

But the phone pinged in York when it was switched off - not Scotland

Argh yes Never thought that one through !

 

[cheddarcat]

Hi I'm new and have been intrigued by this case since it happened back in 2009. I'm from York, and it was very much in people's minds for a long time. PL's death jogged my memory of the case, so I've been trawling through this forum for the past week. Apologies if anything I bring up has been discussed in detail previously, and I hope it makes sense - it is all just my opinion and thoughts at the moment. I don't think this case will be solved until someone speaks up and breaks the silence surrounding it. Obviously, NYP have more information and evidence than they are disclosing to the public, and I'm sure most lines of enquiry have been thought of and investigated at this stage. You'd like to hope so anyway!

Firstly, I don't believe the case has anything to do with Christopher Halliwell. His connection to Yorkshire was his father in Huddersfield. Huddersfield is at least an hour drive from York and in West Yorkshire. A few criminologists have spoken about how killers can tend to have a fixation on dates, and although 18th March was a significant date to Halliwell, if he was trawling around looking for a potential victim, in my opinion, it would have more likely been someone in the Leeds/Bradford/Wakefield area. Even if he was to grab a victim on the spur of the moment, looking at google maps the most obvious route driving from Swindon to Huddersfield would be along the A5 and A6 - neither of those roads go anywhere near York. He could have travelled into Yorkshire via Sheffield, but again, Sheffield isn't that close to York and it would have been quite a round trip. Even if he had dropped off on a long-distance taxi fare and was on his way back (I've dated a taxi driver before and they do sometimes get long-distance jobs but usually to airports and such), driving through York seems an unlikely route back, so I really don't think Claudia came into contact with him.

The most obvious suspect would be someone who knew CL, which seems to be what the majority of people and NYP believe. The fact that her phone never left the 9 mile radius of the UoY phone mast must suggest that the person who killed her was local and that her phone at least stayed within the area. There is a self storage company only a ten minute drive away from CL's house. I wonder if the police looked into any connections between the POI and if any of them had a storage lockup? Perhaps her body/phone/bag were kept there until it was safe to move them. However, they are probably covered by CCTV, so moving a body might be difficult without being seen, but a phone and bag would be inconspicuous enough. Further, police have searched her house three (?) times. In the case of Tia Sharpe, her grandmother's house was searched three times and they didn't check the loft space, where her body had been hidden. Hopefully this hasn't been the case with CL. As her house has sat vacant all these years it is a chilling thought to think that she may have had in fact never actually left her house.

I'm not sure if I think CL did leave for work on the morning police think she went missing. Being such a prolific texter and phone user, if the last message she received on the previous evening had been unopened, surely she might have replied to the message in the morning whilst she was getting ready for work? I know I check and reply to messages while I have my morning coffee, as I think a lot of people do, which leads me to wonder if she did disappear on the evening before. This is why this case is so baffling, because her work bag and chef's whites were missing. I wonder if she had the bag packed ready to pick up in the morning and if someone took it. Or she did step out of her door, as her dad said that her slippers were in the doorway as if she had put on her boots to leave the house, and she was picked up around her house. The co-worker who spoke in the channel 5 documentary, Murdered or Missing (I think that is what it was called?), seemed a little.. odd. He said he sometimes gave her a lift to work but that morning took a different route? Seems a little suspish to me, especially as he took over a year to mention the conversation he had had with Claudia about the new boyfriend only a few days before. I'm sorry, but if one of your close friends had gone missing, would you not wrack your brain trying to remember every single conversation with them in the hope that it would be useful information?

There have been rumours in York about her being buried under the Uni buildings, it kind of became a bit of a local joke, albeit a quite grisly one. I don't think it would be a stretch of the imagination to think that, as there was a lot of building work going on at the time. Have the police looked into any connection between work carried out at the university and anyone of interest who had connections to this work though the building trade? Further, although cadaver dogs picked up a scent near the river Ouse, anyone from York or the area would know that putting a body into the Ouse wouldn't be a particularly good idea (unless they weren't particularly bright, but this case has been unsolved for 12 years, so you'd assume some sort of thought went into the disposal of her body). Bodies always seem to turn up eventually in the Ouse or the Foss. In my opinion, even if it was weighed down, the fast flowing current and annual flooding would bring it up at some point.

I think the CCTV footage of the man seen hanging around the back of CL's house could have possibly doing some sort of drug pickup/drop off. This is speculation on my part, but I used to live in a pub not too far from that area and a gentleman who lived in Heworth, with a well respected job, would come into the pub. He was well known to the police and was known as a big cocaine dealer around that area at the time, so I don't think it is a huge stretch to think that that was what was going on here.

I did find a Getty image that I found fairly interesting - I will add a link if I am okay to do this. In the photo, CSI team are searching the house of one of the POI and one of the team is holding a piece of paper in his hand. Zooming in on this it looks like a photograph of possibly a house in disarray? Or something in the corner of a kitchen perhaps. It's hard to make out, but I would be interested to know what anyone else thinks it is and the possible significance of this picture?

Again, sorry if I am just rehashing what has already been discussed. Hopefully I can add something new to the discussion, and bouncing thoughts and ideas might lead to a spark that maybe helps get closer to solving this! Also, sorry that this is looking more like an essay!

 

[Pinkizzy]

Colin Sutton suggested that the phone may have been switched off in a different area to Claudia's body - phone pinged in York while Claudia's body was elsewhere (Scotland or wherever)

 

[Harrison9]

This might be a useless share, but I found interesting. The end unit...located where the cctv caught the mysterious movements of an individual both in the evening and following morning...is currently up for sale. If you look at the interior shots of the living room, it appears that the front door is blocked off - and that a tenant would opt to only use the back entrance for entry. Perhaps several neighbors opted to use the back entries as well. Doesn't help identify the individual or explain their activity though.2 bed semi-detached house for sale in Heworth Road, York YO31 - Zoopla

 

[MEKON]

This might be a useless share, but I found interesting. The end unit...located where the cctv caught the mysterious movements of an individual both in the evening and following morning...is currently up for sale. If you look at the interior shots of the living room, it appears that the front door is blocked off - and that a tenant would opt to only use the back entrance for entry. Perhaps several neighbors opted to use the back entries as well. Doesn't help identify the individual or explain their activity though.2 bed semi-detached house for sale in Heworth Road, York YO31 - Zoopla

Surely family and friends would know the 'ins and outs' of which doors Claudia normally used.

My own personal preference: I do not think I'd be keen on using the back alley at night or early in the morning

 

[Popejohn3]

Colin Sutton suggested that the phone may have been switched off in a different area to Claudia's body - phone pinged in York while Claudia's body was elsewhere (Scotland or wherever)

Yes maybe the phone and bag were found by someone not connected with an attitude of finders keepers .

 

[cheddarcat]

Yes maybe the phone and bag were found by someone not connected with an attitude of finders keepers .

Wasn't there a similar bag supposedly found on Heslington Road or somewhere up near the uni, but it disappeared a while later?

 

[3ds&p]

Wasn't there a similar bag supposedly found on Heslington Road or somewhere up near the uni, but it disappeared a while later?

Reported by unknown person but never found / recovered by the police - possible red herring ?

 

[3ds&p]

Yes maybe the phone and bag were found by someone not connected with an attitude of finders keepers .

given the high profile of the case, it would be a risky thing to do for someone to keep evidence if they were not connected in any other way, considering the significant consequences if traced subsequently

 

[keep-it-real]

Wasn't there a similar bag supposedly found on Heslington Road or somewhere up near the uni, but it disappeared a while later?

Claudia's blue and grey Karrimor rucksack

 

[3ds&p]

On poi being arrested for questioning the police stated - “People should also be reminded that any arrest we make must be based on evidence, be that from witnesses, forensic examinations and/or on the basis of other information we gather”

which begs the question- what evidence do they have?

Obviously enough to request a charging decision from the cps but not enough to realistically secure a conviction.

without a body, I guess this case is going nowhere, which is a travesty of justice.