UK UK - Claudia Lawrence, 35, Chef, York University, 18 March 2009 #7

[Andyboy]

There’s also the point that has been made a few times now about how exactly CL was funding what appeared to be a very active social and holiday life on the wages associated with being a university cook.

I’ve been sceptical of the idea of her (and the NH) having any sort of links to organised crime, but the above links do start to make me wonder about that aspect, and about MajorLang’s highly perceptive point that the immediate police response to her disappearance has the semblance of an investigation that was already ongoing even before she vanished.

What exactly was she getting mixed up in? And if she *was* getting mixed up in anything nefarious, how cognizant was she of that, or of what the outcomes might be? Some sources have described her as having a naive side.

Police have always given the impression that they are looking for someone local, I wouldn't argue with that

 

[samuel66]

MajorLang's blog begins "the Police already have their suspects and this is more of a motive finder case -A “Why” rather than a “Who” done it."
What is the chance of an uncommon surname turning up so disproportionately in relation to both CL's disappearance and drug/violent crime in York/northern England being completely co-incidental?

 

[Jartykarate]

With regard to the name Ruane, there does seem to be a high concentration in York compared to similar sized places.

According to 192.com York has 40 people with that surname.

The next two places similar in size of population to York are Cambridge with 2 people and Poole with 1.

As Ruane is an Irish name this could be historical, with Irish people coming to work on the Railways and remaining in the area.

Not an in depth study obviously and the number of reports is still higher than you might expect for a fairly unusual surname.

 

[Ruthbullock]

Something @MajorLang touched on but I've done some more hunting around and I don't believe this has been brought to light before. Take a look at the following links:
Mum's murder 'not an excuse'
Burglar committed break-in while showing friend a shortcut to jail
Thomas Ruane of Holgate, jailed for biting taxi driver
York mum in court over cannabis grow
Mob jailed for torture. - Free Online Library
Man who threatened to 'eat cornflakes out girlfriend's skull' jailed
12 of Hull's worst partners in crime now sat in jail
Woman dies in 'vicious' doorstep stabbing
Fifteenth man charged over UK's biggest drug racket - National Crime Agency
'Seaman raped girl, 10, on ship'

You will notice *THREE* similarities between all these links. (1) They all occurred in the North of England, usually Yorkshire and in many cases within York itself. (2) They are all related to drugs, violent crime or both (3) A certain surname which is not a particularly common one crops up what looks like a very statistically disproportionate number of times and it's worth wondering if there is any connection between any of these and the Claudia Lawrence case.

I am not dismissing your theory at all- but Ruane just typed into Facebook brought up many people with the surname from all over the country, albeit mainly the north- Liverpool, Manchester, York, hull and a few down south. Weirdly York is a strange place, there are very few secondary schools and they have larger than average catchments with people bussed around. It’s not at all unusual for people in York to know a lot of people from the various different areas and the six degrees of separation is much narrower here.

 

[Deleted member 102539]

Something @MajorLang touched on but I've done some more hunting around and I don't believe this has been brought to light before. Take a look at the following links:
Mum's murder 'not an excuse'
Burglar committed break-in while showing friend a shortcut to jail
Thomas Ruane of Holgate, jailed for biting taxi driver
York mum in court over cannabis grow
Mob jailed for torture. - Free Online Library
Man who threatened to 'eat cornflakes out girlfriend's skull' jailed
12 of Hull's worst partners in crime now sat in jail
Woman dies in 'vicious' doorstep stabbing
Fifteenth man charged over UK's biggest drug racket - National Crime Agency
'Seaman raped girl, 10, on ship'

You will notice *THREE* similarities between all these links. (1) They all occurred in the North of England, usually Yorkshire and in many cases within York itself. (2) They are all related to drugs, violent crime or both (3) A certain surname which is not a particularly common one crops up what looks like a very statistically disproportionate number of times and it's worth wondering if there is any connection between any of these and the Claudia Lawrence case.

York’s most wanted criminal arrested after being on the run since 2018
Judge Rodney Jameson QC said by May and June 2016 Alfred Philip Dear was bringing a kilo of heroin every two or three weeks into York.
-.-
Without the uncommon surname, but. CL's preferred age group .....

 

[Inspector Evans]

@Popejohn3 yes, fair comment. I was thinking about a comment from Det Sup Malyn that her phone has been used extensively in the Acomb area leading up to her disappearance, my apologies for any confusion. Claudias moile phone is switched off
However, lets not let that detract us from the fact that two people arrested over the disappearance have an uncommon surname, and yet that surname crops up time and time again linked to violent and drug related crime in and around York. Are any of these people directly related or know each other? That's the bit we don't know yet.

Very very good sleuthing there @samuel66 . A Ruane family tree would be interesting to see if any of those names are connected to the brothers but would imagine with the locations there's some link but beyond that it's just speculation.

Edit: I assume when arrests were made in 2014 that phones were looked at of the accused and wonder if any of the names in the link popped up in the contacts/messages list.

Certainly an interesting new angle to the usual theories.

 

[samuel66]

York’s most wanted criminal arrested after being on the run since 2018
Judge Rodney Jameson QC said by May and June 2016 Alfred Philip Dear was bringing a kilo of heroin every two or three weeks into York.
-.-
Without the uncommon surname, but. CL's preferred age group .....

My comments might be red herrings but (1) the drugs ring operated in two towns: *York* and *Malton* (2) One of the key addresses mentioned (Eboracum Way) is less than half a mile from CL's house and the Nags Head. (A kilo of heroin has a street value of about £60k so given that a - literally! - multi million pound drug ring has been operating around the area, Heworth is not necessarily the twee bucolic area some people picture it as)

 

[samuel66]

I am not dismissing your theory at all- but Ruane just typed into Facebook brought up many people with the surname from all over the country, albeit mainly the north- Liverpool, Manchester, York, hull and a few down south. Weirdly York is a strange place, there are very few secondary schools and they have larger than average catchments with people bussed around. It’s not at all unusual for people in York to know a lot of people from the various different areas and the six degrees of separation is much narrower here.

According to a quick skim on 192.com, there are at least two and a half times the number of people with *my* surname (which is also an uncommon one) in York and I cannot find anyone on Google who shares my surname convicted of any violent or drug offences anywhere in Yorkshire or the north of England at all. And then there's this surname with links popping up left right and centre. One of them even in the area of York where Claudia spent a lot of time in the days running up to her disappearance.

 

[samuel66]

I assume when arrests were made in 2014 that phones were looked at of the accused and wonder if any of the names in the link popped up in the contacts/messages list.

Thanks for the compliment Inspector Evans. It would be VERY interesting to see the contents of the phones and it's frustrating that as members of the public we never will. (Although I suspect that a criminal would be likely to use a "burner" phone for his nefarious purposes which could be kept well hidden and even disposed of entirely when things got a bit hot for comfort)

 

[Inspector Evans]

My comments might be red herrings but (1) the drugs ring operated in two towns: *York* and *Malton* (2) One of the key addresses mentioned (Eboracum Way) is less than half a mile from CL's house and the Nags Head.

And of course CL was born and grew up in Malton and her Mum still lives there.

Will look back at ages and dates but possible she may have come across some of them growing up or even coming back to visiting Mum although more likely speculative angle is she simply got too friendly with one of the brothers and found out a bit too much than she should've...

 

[Inspector Evans]

Thanks for the compliment Inspector Evans. It would be VERY interesting to see the contents of the phones and it's frustrating that as members of the public we never will. (Although I suspect that a criminal would be likely to use a "burner" phone for his nefarious purposes which could be kept well hidden and even disposed of entirely when things got a bit hot for comfort)

Oh yeah if there was a found phone with direct communication between some of the names listed to the alleged perps arrested in 2014 then with a few more joining of dots the police may have got it through the CPS although still mainly circumstantial.

I imagine phones were still seized in 2014 and contacts list looked at but guess they'd be denials and no firm evidence of links related to CL's disappearence.

It's an intersting angle anyway straight in from a newbie on this forum. Long term lurker I take it?

 

[Popejohn3]

Oh yeah if there was a found phone with direct communication between some of the names listed to the alleged perps arrested in 2014 then with a few more joining of dots the police may have got it through the CPS although still mainly circumstantial.

I imagine phones were still seized in 2014 and contacts list looked at but guess they'd be denials and no firm evidence of links related to CL's disappearence.

It's an intersting angle anyway straight in from a newbie on this forum. Long term lurker I take it?

The way things are turning round tonight brings back the original question every one has asked ie was it revenge on her father the ( then ) police prosecutor !

 

[samuel66]

Well ... for a few weeks since the recent TV documentary which rekindled the interest. Btw I've just been looking up the details of the York heroin gang arrested in 2018 highlighted by @FromGermany and did a quick calculation which revealed a turnover at street value up to £1.5million per year. Which shows that a drug operation in York can be profitable enough to want someone kept quiet.

(1) Some of the criminals in the 2018 case were in Roche Avenue, which is near CL's house in Heworth - just the other side of Heworth golf club. Around the same time as the 2018 arrests, a man in Eboracum Way was also arrested for drug dealing. (2) In 2015 a woman (cannot ascertain if same or different to 2018) from Roche Avenue had been arrested for drug dealing as had once again a man from Eboracum Way - less than half a mile from CLs house. (3) Also around this time a man was arrested for drug dealing and money laundering in Carter Avenue (which incidentally is almost adjacent to Melrosegate Bridge and CL would have passed within a few hundred feet as she walked to work.)

All very circumstantial of course. But it shows there has been substantial drug dealing around the Heworth area for a long time. So, before the 2015/2018 guys, who was running it a few years earlier??

 

[samuel66]

The way things are turning round tonight brings back the original question every one has asked ie was it revenge on her father the ( then ) police prosecutor !

I personally suspect it was more a case of CL got to know rather too much about certain activities, and when someone learned of the fact that she was the daughter of a police prosecutor, they then decided it would be better that she were removed.

 

[Andyboy]

The rumours of her having a policeman boyfriend wouldn't have helped her cause much either

 

[keep-it-real]

Something @MajorLang touched on but I've done some more hunting around and I don't believe this has been brought to light before. Take a look at the following links:
Mum's murder 'not an excuse'
Burglar committed break-in while showing friend a shortcut to jail
Thomas Ruane of Holgate, jailed for biting taxi driver
York mum in court over cannabis grow
Mob jailed for torture. - Free Online Library
Man who threatened to 'eat cornflakes out girlfriend's skull' jailed
12 of Hull's worst partners in crime now sat in jail
Woman dies in 'vicious' doorstep stabbing
Fifteenth man charged over UK's biggest drug racket - National Crime Agency
'Seaman raped girl, 10, on ship'

You will notice *THREE* similarities between all these links. (1) They all occurred in the North of England, usually Yorkshire and in many cases within York itself. (2) They are all related to drugs, violent crime or both (3) A certain surname which is not a particularly common one crops up what looks like a very statistically disproportionate number of times and it's worth wondering if there is any connection between any of these and the Claudia Lawrence case.

Reading through the link Burglar committed break-in while showing friend a shortcut to jail I noted
CCTV in the area showed that Ruane had travelled in a Ford Focus which had been left nearby and had then walked to the property before returning with items hidden under his clothing.
His home was later searched after the car was traced.

 

[keep-it-real]

That's the million dollar question. And I'm a strong advocate of "innocent until proven guilty" - but this is not a particularly common surname, and not one but two people with that surname were arrested over Claudia's disappearance. And for a relatively uncommon surname it seems to crop up disproportionately highly in links to drug and violent crime in and around York. One of the links points (the cannabis one) to an address near to another pub that Claudia used to frequent (the pub in Acomb, York). And I understand that it is believed that Claudia's mobile phone had been frequently used in the Acomb area of York leading up to her disappearance. [note: edited - thanks Popejohn3]
Your question is one which is now worthy of further investigation

I understand the surname Ruane has irish origins which would suggest a catholic faith, large families are quite normal in irish and catholic faiths so im not surprised by large numbers of people bearing this surname if they have laid down roots in a UK city. Its not unreasonable to consider they may also have connections the gypsy traveller community.. I understand there was a traveller site near Heworth in 2009

 

[Deleted member 102539]

And of course CL was born and grew up in Malton and her Mum still lives there.

Will look back at ages and dates but possible she may have come across some of them growing up or even coming back to visiting Mum although more likely speculative angle is she simply got too friendly with one of the brothers and found out a bit too much than she should've...

... and one of the brothers was JK's "property" in addition, AFAIK.

 

[Inspector Evans]

... and one of the brothers was JK's "property" in addition, AFAIK.

Still is according to facebook and they live opposite NH and Claudia's home.

 

[samuel66]

Having read both the excellent work done by @MajorLang and the book "Gone:the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence" I noticed what looks like a large discrepancy between the accounts of the day prior to her disappearance. If I've read and understood it right:

@MajorLang says: Claudia sets off from the university to walk home. Half way back to her house she stops to post a letter in a postbox in Melrosegate. Continuing on her way, she is given a lift the rest of the way home by a woman called Jo. Later that afternoon a woman called Linda sees Claudia out in the area of the local shops.

Gone - the disappearance book says: Claudia sets out from the university and is almost immediately given a lift by a woman called Jo. After having been driven back home, later that afternoon Claudia sets out again on foot, is seen by a woman called Linda walking past the Nags Head, whereupon she walks back down to Melrosegate to post a letter.

Very different accounts and different order of events! Does anyone have any other accounts or evidence to say which is the correct version of events? I'm working on something but it relies somewhat on getting the order of these events correct.

note: The CCTV footage seems to show Claudia approaching the post box from the south, posting the letter and then continuing on her way to the north which points towards Major Lang being correct, but all help is gratefully received.

Thanks.