A hidden loft in the home of missing Claudia Lawrence was never searched by police, her grieving mother has said. 

Chef Claudia was 35 when she vanished without a trace after failing to turn up to work at York University on March 19, 2009.

Despite an extensive investigation, her case remains a mystery and has become one of Britain's most well-known unsolved missing person cases. 

Her mother Joan Lawrence, 81, said she had 'absolutely no idea' the secret loft existed until she visited recently with a podcast crew, the Mirror first reported. 

Although she wants the new area to be searched, she said she doesn't want police inside the property as she has 'lost all faith and trust in them'. 

'I'm utterly exhausted. Every time I find something new it emotionally drains me and reminds me I have had absolutely no closure,' she told the newspaper. 

'I don't want the police to do it alone as they didn't get it right the first time. I'd be happier with someone like the Locate International going in.'

The hidden loft was found above clothing behind Claudia's wardrobe doors. When the hatch was opened Ms Lawrence said they could see bits of furniture and table legs.  

The search for Claudia was launched after her friend grew worried when she did not turn up at her local pub The Nag's Head.

Friends informed Claudia's father Peter the next day when she still failed to answer any calls. Peter visited her home in the Heworth area of York to find she was nowhere to be seen.

Five weeks after she was reported as a missing person, the case was escalated to a suspected murder investigation - despite her body never being found.

What ensued was a search costing more than £1.5million, with hundreds of officers working to piece together what happened to the chef.

Ms Lawrence still harbours hopes her daughter is still alive and yesterday spoke of her fresh torment after Claudia's childhood best friend was murdered by an abusive partner.

She said the killing of Lisa Welford – who suffered fatal brain injuries in April when Vincent Morgan held her down in the River Derwent – reopened old wounds.

'I didn't cope well,' she said. 'It brought all the pain back of when Claudia went missing. It's such a crushing, all-consuming pain.

'How could two children that had grown up together have such terrible things happen to them?

'I also knew Claudia would have been devastated to hear about Lisa, as Lisa was when Claudia went missing. She would be crushed.'

Despite a court order banning contact, Morgan, 47, and Ms Welford, 49, spent the day together drinking and ended up by the river in Malton, North Yorkshire, the girls' home town. In a violent attack he broke her leg and, as she lay prone on a riverbank, pulled her into the water and held her beneath the surface, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Paramedics revived Ms Welford, but she had suffered brain damage and died the next day. Morgan told police she had jumped in the river to 'kill herself'.

A post-mortem examination revealed Ms Welford, who had known Claudia since they were four, had a fracture to her thigh bone, and two fractures to her upper arm, one of which was estimated to have happened one to three months prior to her death. She also had two fractured ribs, probably caused five to ten days before her death.

The court heard Morgan, who was jailed for a minimum of 21 years, had 47 convictions for 86 offences including theft, taking vehicles, burglary, assaulting police officers, fraud and assaulting girlfriends.

It also emerged he had breached the two previous orders intended to protect Ms Welford from him.

Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, told the court she was terrified of Morgan, an alcohol and drug abuser, and frequently refused to 'implicate' him for a 'myriad of injuries.'

A victim-impact statement from her mother, Rita, was read to the court. She told of 'the black eyes and broken bones and countless excuses she made for him to cover up the pain he caused her'.

Mrs Lawrence, whose daughter has not been seen since March 18, 2009, aged 35, said she had enormous

sympathy for what Mrs Welford had gone through.

'I was heartbroken for her. I couldn't believe we had both lost our daughters,' she told the Mirror.

'In the months that followed, Rita often said to me 'I think they will be together now'.

'I completely understand but it's hard. I can't think of Claudia not being alive, but I know the thought of our daughters being together brings Rita so much comfort. I know Rita was just broken by how her daughter had died. I still haven't walked past that section of the river. I can never walk there again.'

Passing a mandatory life sentence, Judge Guy Kearl, KC, told Morgan he was 'brutal and callous with an inability to control your desire for violence towards your partners'.

North Yorkshire Police has conducted two investigations and questioned nine people but no charges have ever been brought in regards to Claudia's case.

Police believe that Claudia was murdered, yet her body has never actually been found.

A number of searches were conducted as recently as 2021 but to no avail.