Missing chef turned down taxi offer

12 April 2012

Missing university chef Claudia Lawrence turned down money to pay for a taxi before she disappeared while walking to work, her mother has said.

Miss Lawrence, 35, failed to arrive at work at the University of York on Thursday morning and police fear she may have been abducted.

She recently started walking the three mile route to work from her home in Heworth Road, York, after her car broke down.

Her mother Joan Lawrence, 65, from Norton, North Yorkshire, said: "I was worried about her and offered her the money for a taxi after her Corsa broke down. But she wouldn't take it. She was very independent and liked walking for the exercise.

"I spoke to her last Wednesday as she walked home from work saying she was bored. In the evening we talked again."

Miss Lawrence's father Peter, from near Malton, North Yorkshire, walked part of his daughter's route to work on Tuesday, handing out posters appealing for members of the public to help to find her.

"It appears from everything at the house as though she had set off for work with her little rucksack and left all the things at her home that she would leave if she was going to work like bank cards, jewellery and everything else," he said.

"She tends to leave very early in the morning. There wouldn't be many people around."

Miss Lawrence is described as white, around 5ft 6in and of slim build, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, blue skinny jeans and white trainers.

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