The BBC has said it is “very sorry” for the distress caused to the mother of missing university cook Claudia Lawrence after letters about licence fee payments were sent to her daughter’s property. Claudia was 35 when she went missing on March 18, 2009.
Detectives believe Claudia – who lived in the Heworth area of York and worked at York University – was murdered, although no body has ever been found. North Yorkshire Police has conducted two investigations and questioned nine people in relation to her disappearance and suspected murder, but no charges have ever been brought.
The broadcaster plans to apologise directly to Joan Lawrence after she told The Sun the letters, which she said had threatened up to £1,000 in fines, were causing her “untold heartache”. It comes ahead of the 14th anniversary of Claudia’s disappearance.
