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Nicola Bulley case painful, says Claudia Lawrence's mum

PA Media Claudia Lawrence - August 2021 police-issued photo - family prefer this is usedPA Media
Despite numerous appeals, searches, arrests and interviews, Claudia Lawrence's case remains unsolved

The mother of missing Claudia Lawrence says the disappearance of Nicola Bulley has brought back "painful" memories.

Joan Lawrence's 35-year-old daughter hasn't been seen since she failed to arrive for work at the University of York in March 2009.

Ms Bulley went missing on 27 January after a riverside dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire.

Mrs Lawrence said: "I know exactly what [her family is] going through as I've been there and I'm still there."

Claudia's disappearance sparked a high-profile missing person case by North Yorkshire Police which ran for years until it was scaled back in 2017.

It was renewed in 2021 with a search of Sand Hutton gravel pits, near York, but it failed to find any major clues.

'They must have hope'

"When I first heard about Nicola I was absolutely stunned, I was shocked - lots and lots of things go through my mind," Mrs Lawrence said, as she approaches the 14th anniversary of Claudia's disappearance.

"Reports have kept coming out saying 'this sort of thing just doesn't happen', but it does, doesn't it."

Police handout Nicola BulleyPolice handout
Nicola Bulley has not been seen since 27 January

Officers in Lancashire looking for Ms Bulley are continuing to search the River Wyre, heading towards Morecambe Bay.

"It's very difficult because it takes me back, it's very painful," Mrs Lawrence told BBC Radio York. "I'm thinking desperately for her family."

She continued: "I'm hoping they realise I'm thinking and praying for them and I know exactly what they're going through as I've been there and I'm still there.

"It's very early days for them, but they must have hope all the time."

Yellow ribbons with messages from friends and family have recently been tied to a bridge near to where Ms Bulley was last seen.

Mrs Lawrence said: "There's many times I've almost given up hope and think I can't go on another day. Then I remember what [former Archbishop of York] John Sentamu told me the first time I met him.

"We talked about hope, he instilled it in me and it's still there."

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