UK UK - Claudia Lawrence, 35, Chef, York University, 18 March 2009 #9

[Officer Dibble]

The only known neighbour they had suspicions of but dismissed was Blake Berresford who lived two doors down. His house was searched in more than one occasion, firstly around two weeks after her disappearance.
They discovered hair in his garden which he explained as his own and got there when his dad cut his hair one day.
He complained about police leaving footprints on his bed which suggested they stood in his bed to check the attic door and beyond?
They also found a back pack in his house but it was different to Claudias and Berresford explained it as belonging to a friend who had lodged with him??
I wondered if the friend who lodged had something to do with things and perhaps the backpack we see on alleyman being a different one to Claudias but for the purpose of commiting a crime?

I wonder when the friend had lodged with him? I guess we will never know.

From reading your post it then lead to me to pondering whether even though the alley visitor/s look suspicious (and I agree they do) was there a more reasonable or simple explanation? Was it that they were lodgers of people who only had back door keys? Nipping back for something whilst having a job with late/early shift hours? Or is that too simplistic?

 

[Officer Dibble]

Interesting that Joan L. admitted Claudia would visit the homes of married men, stating CL was friends with their wives too. I'm not sure how true the latter was, in reality.
‘Claudia worked in a male-dominated industry, so most of her friends were inevitably going to be men.'
Cold case team re-examines the vanishing of Claudia Lawrence ten years on | Daily Mail Online

Interesting - especially as I know of a woman about CL age who works in catering in an educational environment and is known at work as a 'man eater'.

 

[curiosity2]

Sorry dont know what happened then, laptop playing up. I wonder where the 40 lovers came from, I understand that according to a Daily Mail interview l from an unidentified “friend” - Suzy Cooper claimed this was Anth Newby!

 

[curiosity2]

Sorry dont know what happened then, laptop playing up. I wonder where the 40 lovers came from, I understand that according to a Daily Mail interview from an unidentified “friend” - Suzy Cooper claimed this was Anth Newby!

 

[Officer Dibble]

My eyesight seems to be getting better, it must be as the cctv stills of claudia here I can see clearly, as opposed to the ones released later by the nyp which frankly don't show much

That's why I thought I hadn't seen them before. They are so clear.

 

[Officer Dibble]

I recall someone saying that Claudia had started drinking vodka instead of her usual cider. Does this suggest a different drinking partner had come into her life? Here it is in that infamous article:
Revealed: Missing chef Claudia's '40 different men' | Daily Mail Online
'She can drink a lot – at least six or seven pints of cider a night. But she started changing her drinks from cider to vodka, orange and soda. She would get foolish and act crazy. She might be bitchy or pull faces at someone behind their back. She could be a bit immature.’

Interesting about her get togethers with GF too.

Thanks for sharing this - good point re vodka. I can't read all the DM links as I refuse to change my pop up/blocking of ads thingy as not fond of DM (to put it lightly).

 

[Yozzer]

The Daily Mail ‘friend’ paints a picture of CL which is at odds with how other people described her, but also with Moonsafari’s impressions which we trust. Unless CL behaved so very differently in the NH.

However badly she behaved when she was out with him, I don’t feel any sympathy for this ‘friend’, whose behaviour was maybe worse than C’s when drunk, eg walking off with one-night stands. He did not have to go out with her for a start, and perhaps they even had an agreement in case one of them pulled when out, we don’t know. The examples of CL’s behaviour when drunk, as reported in the article, are quite normal IMO. And estimating how many men she had... well, it just confirms that CL wasn’t very good at choosing her friends.

Yes it sounded like someone was pushing his buttons in that interview. I wouldn't dismiss it though. His description of her, whilst not flattering, was fairly detailed and he had known her a long time. We know a lot of men didn't respect her because some of her reported behaviour was ....well ...just like the way some men behave! So there is hypocrisy at play here. And perhaps a little jealousy. Yes I'm sure men can be jealous of women who can pull men easily.
Moonsafari is female so would be naturally more empathetic towards CL, IMO.

 

[Yozzer]

I wonder when the friend had lodged with him? I guess we will never know.

From reading your post it then lead to me to pondering whether even though the alley visitor/s look suspicious (and I agree they do) was there a more reasonable or simple explanation? Was it that they were lodgers of people who only had back door keys? Nipping back for something whilst having a job with late/early shift hours? Or is that too simplistic?

I grew up in a terraced house and my dad used to use the back alley to access our house when he wanted to avoid having to stop and talk to a particular neighbour who he had spotted in the road!

 

[keep-it-real]

Yes it sounded like someone was pushing his buttons in that interview. I wouldn't dismiss it though. His description of her, whilst not flattering, was fairly detailed and he had known her a long time. We know a lot of men didn't respect her because some of her reported behaviour was ....well ...just like the way some men behave! So there is hypocrisy at play here.
Moonsafari is female so would be naturally more empathetic towards CL, IMO.

@Yozzer there is no doubt a reporter is looking for reader impact in a story so its always good to bear that in mind.

If she was distrupting marriages and relationships in the numbers stated I find it hard to believe that public arguments and physical altracations would have been hard to avoid are there any reports of this?
To be honest I have taken the middle ground with it all.
Some of her relationships were with married men some werent
Theres no doubt that when you have female male friendships there are some men that are just friends and otheres that are friends (this works just the same for male female friendships) but want to be more than friends and in my opinion the guy in the article falls into the catergory of friend wanting to be more than friends.
And where some men may disrespect her for her behaviour if it was a male doing the same other men may not view their behaviour as such

I dont see Moonsafari as being empathetic because she is female just my opinion

 

[AcbMurders]

I didn't mention it in my blog rather in the threads. Two taxisworth of people went both times I witnessed, I named PR because he's already been arrested I didn't mention GF going with them and don't think he did. It was whether AC went or not I couldn't remember. I don't think JK went with them either. Nor SC. I basically elaborated on Tommy Ward's "bundled into a car" comments, of which I witnessed in a 'jovial' sense a year or so *before* Claudia went missing in terms of her being egged on to go with them after the lock-ins at the Nag's. It all seemed platonic to me but what the hell do I know quite frankly. Also I knew they were going to Acomb but where exactly I don't know. The taxi company surely has a record of all this. Unfortunately I can't remember which one/s

Thank you for clearing that up, @moonsafari As for AN, he’s on Facebook under ‘Anth‘, rather than Anthony. That’s also how PH referred to him in the press. I think he’s Acomb based and not the older, wealthy sort.

 

[AcbMurders]

True but weight gain is something that also happens with age for many I remember JK mentioning vodka sodas were low calorie compared to pints. The pressure to be thin has lessened now societally imo

Talking about weight gain, it looks like JK put on a few stones a few years ago (maybe due to stress in 2014-16?) and she’s been on a fitness mission since, according to her Instagram profile

 

[Yozzer]

@Yozzer there is no doubt a reporter is looking for reader impact in a story so its always good to bear that in mind.

If she was distrupting marriages and relationships in the numbers stated I find it hard to believe that public arguments and physical altracations would have been hard to avoid are there any reports of this?
To be honest I have taken the middle ground with it all.
Some of her relationships were with married men some werent
Theres no doubt that when you have female male friendships there are some men that are just friends and otheres that are friends (this works just the same for male female friendships) but want to be more than friends and in my opinion the guy in the article falls into the catergory of friend wanting to be more than friends. I dont see Moonsafari as being empathetic because she is female just my opinion

The article was infamous because of the number (40) quoted. If you take this away (the emotion and the hyperbole) and just read his comments, he describes situations where he has warned her off, as a friend, from chasing a married male "‘I used to say sometimes, “Now you watch yourself with him, he’s with so and so.” And she’d say, “It’s just a bit of fun.” I don’t know why she did it."
I suspect he was a married former work colleague who she may have used as a means of accessing certain pubs and he knew she wasn't interested in him.
Moonsafari knew Claudia and as a female, would see her in a different light (a more rounded person) from how men would view her. We know that from having read her blog. That's all I was saying.

Re scenes of disruption regarding broken marriages, yes I believe this occurred too and has been mentioned in the media.

 

[Officer Dibble]

I grew up in a terraced house and my dad used to use the back alley to access our house when he wanted to avoid having to stop and talk to a particular neighbour who he had spotted in the road!

Good point! I also lived in a terrace and we would bring things in the back gate to avoid the nosy neighbours discussing our latest purchase.

 

[keep-it-real]

The article was infamous because of the number (40) quoted. If you take this away (the emotion and the hyperbole) and just read his comments, he describes situations where he has warned her off, as a friend, from chasing a married male "‘I used to say sometimes, “Now you watch yourself with him, he’s with so and so.” And she’d say, “It’s just a bit of fun.” I don’t know why she did it."
I suspect he was a married former work colleague who she may have used as a means of accessing certain pubs and he knew she wasn't interested in him.
Moonsafari knew Claudia and as a female, would see her in a different light (a more rounded person) from how men would view her. We know that from having read her blog. That's all I was saying.

Re scenes of disruption regarding broken marriages, yes I believe this occurred too and has been mentioned in the media.

To me personally read in the context of the article I see those comments you mention above could be made by 'a male friend who wanted to be more than a friend' disclosing his discloure of her possibly being involved with up to 40 males throws up a red flag straightaway to me on just how truthful what he says in the article is. As suggested he just comes across as being bitter.. thats just my opinion.

Iwould be most interested in any reports of any public arguments and physical altractions that involved a partner or wife I havent seen any reported in the media.. can you recall where in the media you believe you saw this and possibly post a link here?

 

[Yozzer]

Iwould be most interested in any reports of any public arguments and physical altractions that involved a partner or wife I havent seen any reported in the media.. can you recall where in the media you believe you saw this and possibly post a link here?

MS touches on one scene in her blog regarding CL's affair with LH:
'There was a bit of a scene outside the family home when his wife first found out'
I have read something elsewhere too...will post if I find it.

 

[Yozzer]

We read about men commenting on Claudia's behaviour but here is the view of a long standing (so assume not from the NH group) woman friend.

One friend, who has known Claudia for many years and who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sky News Online, that Claudia has "a secretive nature," and would often arrange secret meetings. "She was used to having secret liaisons," she said "She is a private person and not at all gregarious."

Claudia 'private and secretive', close friends claim

 

[keep-it-real]

MS touches on one scene in her blog regarding CL's affair with LH:
'There was a bit of a scene outside the family home when his wife first found out'
I have read something elsewhere too...will post if I find it.

I understand this just involved The Horwell family @Yozzer... was Claudia present at the scene?

Do you know the ages of the Horwell children at the time of the divorce by any chance?

 

[Vixey]

I wonder when the friend had lodged with him? I guess we will never know.

From reading your post it then lead to me to pondering whether even though the alley visitor/s look suspicious (and I agree they do) was there a more reasonable or simple explanation? Was it that they were lodgers of people who only had back door keys? Nipping back for something whilst having a job with late/early shift hours? Or is that too simplistic?

My thoughts are possibly alleyman returns from work on wed eve hides something in back entrance gets up for work goes around and picks it back up.Possible he lives with friend or family as can’t bring item in.wonder if cctv picked up same activity on other mornings! Or security for limes court.

 

[Yozzer]

MS touches on one scene in her blog regarding CL's affair with LH:
'There was a bit of a scene outside the family home when his wife first found out'
I have read something elsewhere too...will post if I find it.

@keep-it-real re confrontations with wives/partners:
Mother-of-two Mrs Sims said last night: “She seems to have wound up one or two other halves on the way. Is it a crazy idea to suggest this was a revenge act?”
Solicitor Mr Lawrence added: “There are women who would have been upset by Claudia’s relationships. I assume police have at least interviewed them. I don’t know if they have or not.” Asked how he knew the women were upset, Mr Lawrence said: “Claudia was given a bit of a hard time by one or two of them but I don’t think there were physical attacks.”
Asked if there were rows in the pub, he went on: “Probably more of an awkward situation than a confrontation.” He said one situation happened a long time ago and another was “more recent” but would not give details.
Claudia Lawrence: One year on

 

[Vixey]

@keep-it-real re confrontations with wives/partners:
Mother-of-two Mrs Sims said last night: “She seems to have wound up one or two other halves on the way. Is it a crazy idea to suggest this was a revenge act?”
Solicitor Mr Lawrence added: “There are women who would have been upset by Claudia’s relationships. I assume police have at least interviewed them. I don’t know if they have or not.” Asked how he knew the women were upset, Mr Lawrence said: “Claudia was given a bit of a hard time by one or two of them but I don’t think there were physical attacks.”
Asked if there were rows in the pub, he went on: “Probably more of an awkward situation than a confrontation.” He said one situation happened a long time ago and another was “more recent” but would not give details.
Claudia Lawrence: One year on

Do we know any Ex partners of suzy cooper?