DNA tests fail to identify possible Claudia Lawrence suspect

Claudia Lawrence was last seen on March 18th 2009 and was reported missing the next day after she failed to turn up for work as a chef in York.

Police believe the 35-year-old chef was murdered, although no body has been found.

In January last year, as the North Yorkshire force scaled down a £1 million review of the case, it said that DNA profiling was the only outstanding line of inquiry and it estimated it would take a further six weeks to finalise the matter.

They have now confirmed that 'familial DNA forensic investigation work' has now been completed without identifying a possible suspect or suspects - and that the results were 'naturally very frustrating' for the team involved.

Claudia's family have been informed and an appeal has been re-issued for anyone still to come forward who had visited Claudia’s house or been in her car for any reason, should still do so in the confidence that they can be eliminated against the outstanding DNA profiles.

The review, which involved a small team trying to identify people they require elimination DNA from, has taken longer than first anticipated due to the amount of research and analytical work .

It has involved travelling around the UK to try and obtain DNA by consent from people who have similar DNA profiles to the unidentified samples recovered during the investigation.

There has also been work done to reconstruct Claudia’s DNA from various sources for elimination purposes.

Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn, the senior investigating officer in the case. said the investigation will always remain open.

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 - or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 and quote “Claudia Lawrence, North Yorkshire Police”.