Prayers offered for missing chef

Claudia Lawrence worked at the University of York

Prayers have gone out from York Minster's "community" to the family of a woman who has been missing from her home in the city for 11 days.

Claudia Lawrence, 35, was last seen after leaving the University of York's Goodricke College, where she worked as a chef, on 18 March.

Police divers have been scouring the city's waterways looking for clues.

During the service, the congregation was told it was a time of "waiting and great anxiety".

Miss Lawrence's father, Peter, is a volunteer steward at the minster.

Prayers were said for him, his daughter, her mother Joan and her older sister Ali.

'Great anxiety'

Leading the prayers during the Holy Communion service, the Reverend Canon Glyn Webster, chancellor of the minster, said: "We pray for the safety and well-being of Claudia Lawrence.

"As we pray for her, so we pray for her family, for Peter, for Joan, for Ali, her family and many friends, during this time of waiting and of great anxiety."

Speaking after the service, which was not attended by Miss Lawrence's family, Canon Webster said Mr Lawrence had helped at a church concert on Saturday night.

Miss Lawrence last spoke to her father and mother on Wednesday evening

The canon said: "It seems the whole city is pulling behind Peter, Joan and their family, in terms of concern, compassion and praying for them. While there's no news, there's still hope.

"We're hoping and praying for a good outcome for Claudia and her family.

"The love and the prayers of the whole minster community go out to them."

Prayers were also being said at Holy Trinity Church, in Heworth, York, where Miss Lawrence lives, and in Malton, Norton and Old Malton where her mother Joan attends church.

CCTV footage

Miss Lawrence was last seen on 18 March after she finished work at the University of York's Goodricke College and has not been in contact with anybody since about 2030 GMT that night.

It had been initially thought she disappeared after setting off on the three-mile walk from her home to work the following morning.

But she does not appear on any CCTV footage from her normal route and senior police officers said it was possible she met up with someone the previous night.

She disappeared without taking any money, bank cards, or her passport, police said.

Friends and family have described her disappearance as totally out of character.

A Facebook group to appeal for help in finding Miss Lawrence, set up on 21 March, by Sunday it had more than 12,000 members.

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Prayers for missing Claudia