Matthew Steeples on discussing the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence fifteen years ago in York on TalkTV’s ‘Crime Suspect’ with esteemed former detective Peter Bleksley
Earlier this month, I returned to News UK’s headquarters next to The Shard in London to be a guest, for the second time after appearing in February to discuss the ongoing Madeleine McCann case, on Peter Bleksley’s deservedly respected TalkTV Crime Suspect show.
This time focused on the fifteenth anniversary of the literal ‘vanishing’ of a 35-year-old chef named Claudia Lawrence in the Heworth area of York, I appeared alongside the renowned criminologist and author Professor James Treadwell, the former police inspector and visiting lecturer at Leeds Trinity University Martin Holleran and the journalist and author of Gone: The Disappearance of Claudia Lawrence and Her Father’s Desperate Search for the Truth Neil Root.
Aired first on TalkTV’s terrestrial and YouTube channels on the 5th April, the 21:22-minute version on the latter has been viewed nearly 130,000 times to date and focused on the key question: “Could there still be someone out there who knows what happened to the 35-year-old chef?”
Aged just 35 at the time she disappeared into thin air on either the night of 18th March or the morning of the 19th March 2009, here is a case in which North Yorkshire Police – to date – have performed over 48 video recorded interviews under caution, but come to utterly no conclusion.
Having similarities to the case of the also ‘vanished’ Australian Marion Barter in that no real evidence of her having ‘existed’ after the 19th March 2009 has ever come to light, I focused my commentary on Crime Suspect on the media portrayal of Claudia Lawrence and asked: “Would she have been made out to have been promiscuous and a drunk if she had been a man?”
As has also been pointed out by Joan Lawrence, the likely victim of murder’s mother, who has subsequently received an OBE for her efforts in bringing about the passing of the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 – which modified the law in order to allow the appointment of guardians for the affairs of missing people – the “intense” and “vicious stories” about what might have occurred helped nobody.
In Claudia Lawrence: A Mother’s Story, a four-part series first aired on the BBC in March this year, the problems of allowing untruths about what actually occurred to be spread is further explained, but what is now required is for a community to come together and to finally realise that it is time to put aside past allegiances. It is time to do justice for this missing-for-fifteen-years lady and her family.
To watch the full-length version of the Claudia Lawrence ‘Crime Suspect’ programme on TalkTV, click here.
Follow Peter Bleksley on Twitter at @PeterBleksley, Martin Holleran at @Future110, Neil Root at @NEILROOTWriter and Professor James Treadwell at @James_Treadwell.
Editor’s note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples and watch his current nightly show on YouTube at 8.30pm daily.
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PLEASE FIND A REVISED AND CORRECTED COMMENT, EXCLUDING TYPOS!!!
Obvious errors in your discussion about Claudia Lawrence case:
1, Paul Harris, the landlord of the Acomb, was interviewed by a national newspaper and in it he stated that he knew Claudia from years before she disappeared and that she had indeed been frequenting his pub with her porter friend, Anthony Newby, in the few weeks before she disappeared, after a long hiatus, during which she was fraterning the Nags Head. Harris was arrested for perverting the course of justice, which was in connection to a police search of his car when they found a female bracelet which he claimed belonged to his children. Mrs Harris told the police that the bracelet did not belong to her children. Harris denied having an affair with Claudia, but he admitted that she did socialise in his pub and that they were on friendly and first name terms. The police stated that her phone had pinged severally in the Acomb area during the 2 weeks before she vanished.
2,Significantly, in addition to her chef’s outfit, rucksack, and phone missing, her hair straighteners had gone missing. An identical pair were photographed being removed by the police from another property in Heworth Road some time later!!!
3. Note the two wine glasses on the draining board: looks like 2 ladies enjoying a drink together?
4. The “Alley Man” was identified as Richard Cartwright by Galloway early on in the investigation. There is no evidence to suggest that he walked to the back of her house. He walks out of view of the CCTV for 40 seconds. Cartwright owned property in Heworth Place and he was probably visiting his property. N.B. There is a man, a figure, standing in the doorway of 131 Heworth Road on both occasions. What is he doing there at such times of the day? Being a lookout? The “Alley Man”, Richard Cartwright, died 3 weeks after Claudia disappeared. Why did Malyn not accept Cartwright’s identity?
5 The mobile phones’ locations in those days could not be pinpointed to an exact spot because there needed to be many phone masts to be so specific. For instance in the York City Centre, a phone can be isolated to within 50 metres of actual situ, because of the many number of masts. Then, in 2009, they relied on a couple of masts. The police knew only that the phone did not leave the area of York. There was no chance of a Fantasy James Bond tracking system to indicate that her phone remained in her house or a lover’s house.
6. You may be barking up the wrong tree. Motive could be the jealousy and envy of another woman who was close to Claudia, and knew her intensely. – With a little help from male friends? I could give the opportunities, which are obvious, and the means would be guesswork.
P.S. There is no evidence that she EVER walked to work