Claudia father in renewed appeal

Miss Lawrence was last seen near her home in York on 18 March

The father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has made a fresh appeal for help to find his daughter, six months after she disappeared.

Peter Lawrence said not knowing what had happened to his daughter was devastating, and vowed to continue his campaign to find her.

Miss Lawrence, 35, was last seen near her home in Heworth Road on 18 March.

Detectives are treating the case as suspected murder. Mr Lawrence said he believed his daughter was still alive.

'Complete nightmare'

Miss Lawrence spoke to both her parents on 18 March but failed to turn up for work the following day.

Mr Lawrence, 62, said: "All this time it has been a complete nightmare. There's a large part of my life missing."

One theory is that that Miss Lawrence was attacked or abducted as she walked to her workplace in a kitchen at the University of York's Goodricke College on 19 March.

Hundreds of properties have been searched, rivers scoured and numerous appeals for information made.

Mr Lawrence describes life without his daughter

Detectives have also investigated Miss Lawrence's personal life and urged anyone who had a relationship with her to come forward.

Mr Lawrence said he did not believe the investigation had made any progress, other than by way of elimination.

He added: "Claudia would not have just gone off and that leads me to believe that she is being held somewhere.

"That's why we keep appealing to people for information. Even if they don't think it's important, just to tell either the police or Crimestoppers."

Mr Lawrence has travelled to London to raise the profile of his campaign and distributed posters of his daughter to keep the case in the public eye.

The solicitor said his daughter's disappearance has taken a heavy toll on his health but he had continued to work to take his mind off what he was going through.

"I go out for walks in the countryside. I look at the sunshine, the hills and the fields and I think 'Claudia, are you seeing this'. It's hard."

Mr Lawrence said it was difficult to believe it was six months since he had last seen his daughter.

"Sometimes it seems like an eternity. Other times it seems like yesterday."