Claudia message a ‘sick hoax’
A Facebook message which appeared this week, claiming to be from missing chef Claudia Lawrence, has been dismissed as almost certainly a “sick hoax” by friends and family.
The message posted on the social networking website said: “hi everyone just let you be aware that i am ok and i am safe and sound. speak to you all soon. claudia xxx”.
A spokesman for Claudia’s solicitor father, Peter Lawrence, 63, said he firmly believed the message to be a hoax and commented that whoever wrote it must be “sick”.
Martin Dales, who is also a close friend of Mr Lawrence, said: “It is a message we would love to hear, but quite honestly more than likely this is a hoax and if it is a hoax, it’s sick and a waste of everybody’s time.”
The message has now been removed from Facebook. Mr Dales said: “Peter [Lawrence] was speechless when I told him. We can’t believe that anybody could do anything like this. It’s difficult to believe that the message is actually sitting on the screen looking at you. Who in their right minds can put a message like this on the board?”
Claudia has not been seen for nearly eight months since she left her workplace on March 18, the University’s Roger Kirk Centre. The police are treating her disappearance as suspected murder.
The post appeared on the Facebook group ‘Claudia Lawrence Investigation’, which was set up by Simon Smith, an 18-year-old IT professional living in Morpeth, near Newcastle. Smith condemned the message and removed it from his group as soon as he realised what had happened.
He said: “I don’t know Claudia, but I heard about her disappearance on Crimewatch UK. All I want to say to the hoaxers is, imagine if it was one of your family members. It’s disgusting to joke about something like that.”
Mr Dales added: “For all the people who have been following Claudia’s case, supporting the family and hoping for her to be found – and there are thousands if not millions across the country – seeing something like this is incredibly upsetting. Claudia doesn’t use computers and this certainly isn’t her style. It is hoped that whoever is responsible for this posting will contact the police immediately and accept the consequences of their irresponsible actions.”
‘Claudia Lawrence Investigation’ is one of a number of Facebook groups set up to help find Claudia, including the official one – ‘Missing Person, Claudia Lawrence’ – which has more than 25,000 members.
Anyone who has any information regarding the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence, should phone 0845 6060247 or Crimestoppers, which has offered a £10,000 reward, on 0800 555111.
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Has no-one stopped to think “what if this is real”? If Claudia is still alive and this was her one shot at getting a message out, then what does it do to her morale if everyone immediately jumps on it as a hoax?
If it is a hoax, then it is sick, but you can’t dismiss it straight away.
“If Claudia is still alive and this was her one shot at getting a message out, then what does it do to her morale if everyone immediately jumps on it as a hoax?”
Sadly, this can only be a sick joke. If Claudia could have made contact surely she would have just spoken to her family or friends.
Of course this story is important – so shouldn’t it have been properly researched and written, instead of 90% lifted from the York Press?
Claudia’s disappearance is still raw and painful to many at the University and this needs to be considered when stories are “written” about her.