Claudia Lawrence investigation to be 'scaled down'

Martin Dales, friend and spokesman for Peter Lawrence, says news of the police 'scaling down' the investigation is "depressing" and "frustrating", but there should be no criticism of North Yorkshire Police.

He said: "It's very depressing and there's no criticism at all of the police, the huge amount of effort they've put into this review over the last three years is clearly huge.

"But the sad thing is that nearly eight years without Claudia carries on with not really anything new to go at.

"It's clear from what's being said is that the combination of Cleveland and North Yorkshire police forces cold case review setup will always be there until there's some sort of conclusion.

"But clearly if you're not getting the information or anything new to go at and you've gone through and had a thorough no expense spared review you can't carry on like that forever if you're not getting anywhere.

Julia Mulligan, the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, says her thoughts are with the family of Claudia Lawrence, after police said an investigation into her disappearance is likely to be 'scaled down' from next month.

Miss Lawrence, 35, went missing in March 2009 and detectives now say that unless one outstanding line of enquiry provides a breakthrough in the case, they now only look into any "new and compelling" information.