Chilling developments have left missing chef Claudia Lawrence’s mum “nervous” as she fears an intruder has targeted her daughter’s home – not once but twice. It is believed the mystery ‘intruder’ struck after a tiny attic hatch was discovered alongside new evidence
Mum of Claudia Lawrence shows new damage to daughters home after break-ins
The mum of Claudia Lawrence says she is “absolutely shellshocked” after discovering her missing daughter’s home has been broken into by a mystery intruder – not once but twice. In bombshell developments described as “frightening,” Joan believes a raider may have targeted her daughter’s home after she revealed a secret attic and new evidence.
The mum was horrified when an internal door she “meticulously” locks was left wide open, the front door lock was scratched and bent, a shelf unit moved, clothes missing from Claudia’s wardrobe and the attic hatch damaged and “tampered” with. Claudia was 35 when she vanished without a trace after failing to turn up to work at York University on March 19th, 2009 prompting one of the biggest unsolved murder cases in the UK. Her breakfast bowls had been left in the kitchen sink and the slippers by the door. Since then her home has been left a ‘time warp’ with her clothes and belongings just waiting.
Joan Lawrence, 81, regularly visits the home as a condition of the house insurance and in January 3rd this year she found a tiny attic hatch tucked away in a built-in wardrobe inside Claudia’s bedroom. She made the discovery after visiting the home with journalist and ‘Answers for Claudia’ podcaster Tom McDermott.
They also found a tissue and a packet of half used chewing gum inside a black leather jacket, which they believe could hold vital DNA clues. But when Joan returned a few days after the release of the podcast episode which talked about the find and coverage in the Mirror on February 27th, she was horrified to discover someone may have been inside the two-bed house.
Joan said: “I was absolutely shellshocked…I got one hell of a shock. I still don’t know how they got in. It makes me feel a bit creepy going there on my own, that somebody’s been in. I will go in daylight. It’s made me really nervous and I can’t go in the house on my own now.”
Then when the Mirror joined Joan earlier this month, on April 11th, with the podcast team at the house to discuss this first break in, they discovered evidence there may have been a second raid. Journalist and ‘Answers for Claudia’ podcaster Tom, who has been working alongside Joan for two years, said he has also been “shaken” by it describing it as “frightening” and told the Mirror there was someone out there clearly “rattled”. And he said he was further “speechless” after finding evidence of a second break-in.
“I think someone is getting nervous out there. In episode nine in an episode called ‘Moving the Dial’ we revealed the attic had been found. Now we’ve had a double disturbance at Claudia’s house. Somebody is clearly very rattled.”
Talking to The Mirror at the house, Tom who has become good friends with Joan, remarks: “Somebody has been here, twice! That’s very disturbing and it’s frightening because Joan is now visiting this house on a regular basis knowing someone else has been there.”
He later told us: “It looks like a professional job because there’s no break in through a window, or damage to the doors, it’s either somebody who has a key or who knows how to break into houses. I think the disturbance was nothing to do with the loft but more to do with clothing and that tissue.
Despite Joan and Tom both reporting each incident, North Yorkshire Police have yet to visit the premises to investigate, which Joan says does “not surprise” her. Tom told us: “We’ve reported both incidents to the police, they want to speak to Joan and arrange a time to visit. “ The Mirror understands the senior investigating officer in the case is planning to visit the home after Joan agreed to meet him.
Reflecting on how the latest drama unfolded at the start of the year, Tom explained how they first discovered the attic when they went to the house to follow up a tip they’d had on the podcast. A man called Dave said he saw Claudia walking around 3am on the A1 near Wetherby on the early morning of the 18th wearing a leather jacket.
Tom said: “Joan said ‘shall we go upstairs and see if there are any that match the description?’ We went upstairs and there were four leather jackets and one you could potentially mistake for a leather jacket. As we were looking at those, I saw the hatch and asked Joan if she knew about it and she didn’t.
“We got the jacket out of the wardrobe and Joan put her hand in the pockets and found an Extra chewing gum packet and in the other said; ‘Oh my God what is this?” She pulled out some used tissue clearly from 2009 or wherever Claudia last wore the jacket.”
A podcast about the find was released and a few days later it was made public in February they returned to the house to discover the first of the suspicious activity.
“We walked through the front door and the inner back door was wide open and Joan said ‘Oh my God I didn’t leave it like that’. There had been a disturbance,” Tom told us. “Joan is meticulous to the point she goes back to double check. It was a surprise.”
A light green dress Claudia wore on Millennium eve, which was left on the hanger, was now on the floor. Joan also stressed she ‘meticulously’ closes and locks that internal door after every visit, but when they arrived it was “wide open”. “I always shut that door and go back and check,” she stressed.
Then when Joan and Tom moved upstairs to the bedroom to check for disturbances, he told how she exclaimed; ‘And that hatch was not left open.’
The attic hatch had been pushed back inside the loft, “quite a way back” Tom said and the ”piece of wood” thought to be a table leg he’d left on the floor of the attic, was now standing upright, on the right.
When The Mirror recently joined Joan and the podcast team, to discuss the break-in, Joan showed us the attic and the team discovered the tissue they’d found had vanished too, along with four items of Claudia’s clothes.
As we arrived at Claudia’s pretty stoned terrace on a busy road in Heworth, Joan recapped for The Mirror: “I was quite shocked to discover it had been broken into.”
Getting her keys out, she bends over to open the door but stops in her tracks and turns to us to say the lock “feels different.” Rattling the keys in the lock, Joan says: “It was absolutely solid. It wasn’t like that. Because the locksmith that did this is a craftsman.”
As she walks in, she points to the locking mechanism and says: “Look there’s scratches on the lock and it’s bent. These are women’s instincts. Can you see the dent there?” Pointing to a small wicker bookcase right next to the door, she says: “And this had been moved! as if someone had knocked it when they came in.”
After a look round checking the downstairs, we move into Claudia’s back garden to see if a Robin who visits regularly is there, before we head upstairs, which has no carpet on and the tacks showing.
There Joan discovers the wardrobe has been “tampered” with again.
“There’s something not right,” she says pointing to the hatch. Tom points out the attic hatch was upside down, somebody had put it back incorrectly and its frame now seemed damaged. Beneath the entrance bits of insulation from above could be seen.
Podcast producer Mark Sandell, who always records their visits on audio using a microphone boom, also points out the wood surround for the hatch; ‘The corner’s hanging off!”
In shock Joan says: “Wasn’t it the white side? You will see on your audiotape? There’s something not right.” Looking at the clothes below, she says: “There’s something not right about this lot. There’s something fallen off. There wasn’t an empty hanger.” Referring to the shelves of clothes, she adds: “That was thinned out and it looks like someone has piled it back up again. Somebody has taken something that was on there.”
Tom turns to his producer, from podcast company 6foot6, Mark Sandell and says: ‘We didn’t leave it like that did we?’ and is told: ‘No, we definitely didn’t leave it like that’.
Tom says: “There was a piece of wood in there, a lot of insulation…I put the piece of wood to the left of the door.” While Joan adds: “There’s a few empty hangers.” Tom points up to the 3ft square entrance and adds: “That hatch was left upside down. I put it back with the white side showing not the wood…” He looks for the tissue they found last time and adds: “And the tissue is missing.”
As Joan turns her attention to the large pine chest of drawers still full of Claudia’s clothes she rummages through and comments: “We never found her nightwear..or her makeup.”
Joan seems to think it’s a pair of jeans or trousers have gone missing, pointing out: “The cupboards on the right had been disturbed. There were less clothes in there…were they disturbed?”
She tells The Mirror the police have not got keys in the house and “can’t get in there without me”.
After we leave she insists: “It’s been tampered with. I’m a bit nervous when I come on my own now but I know I will get no protection from the police, once they used to patrol round and check if someone is coming in and out. “ Asked how she felt about the police not coming to investigate. “It doesn’t surprise me. I’m sad to say.
After we leave Tom says of their two year long investigation: “The reaction to the podcast has been a bit overwhelming really, we have good communication with the police and the public stop us in the street to speak to Joan.
“It’s more important to me than ever because every time I speak to Joan it keeps me motivated. It’s unimaginable to really understand what Joan is going through.”
Producer Mark says: “I think for many people because Joan is at the centre of this podcast and it’s for her, it is seen as very much the last chance. There are encouraging signs that we are going to generate some answers for Joan.
“The police and Tom are talking to each in a proper grown-up way. People are still coming forward with information.And we’ve clearly rattled somebody who has been into this house.
Pointing out the significance of the chewing gum, Mark says a criminologist told them chewing gum could hold vital DNA because it is often shared with others.
“My impression is something is going on out there. We called episode 9, Moving the Dial, there is definitely something moving.”
Tom adds: “We promised Joan to keep Claudia’s name and memory out there in the right way for 12 months of the year and not just each year on the anniversary of her disappearance or on Mother’s Day. We do our very best to do that. “
“It does feel like there’s something going on, not only in terms of the information we’re receiving and the relations with the police, I think the behaviors of some of the key people that may potentially
have been involved is altering too. I think it’s shaking somebody.
“ I think the disturbance of the house is significant, whichever way you look at it, whether it’s somebody local who has followed the case or if it’s someone connected to maybe what has happened to Claudia, I think that for me is a significant moment in our investigation…
“As you can see, somebody has been in Claudia’s house and disturbed things. Now is it a message? Are they trying to send a message to us or to Joan? We feel things are changing. We hope we’re right because we need answers for Joan.”
A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: “We’ve been made aware of Mrs Lawrence’s concerns that some items have been moved inside the property.
“We have contacted Mrs Lawrence to discuss this, but as yet we have not been given access to the property, which would allow us to investigate further.
“As always, we continue to assess the information we receive in relation to the disappearance and suspected murder of Claudia, and we urge members of the public to pass on anything that could assist the investigation. We’re also committed to engaging with and supporting Claudia’s family in any way we can.”
Episode 11 of Answers for Claudia is out shortly on Apple Podcasts.
