Claudia Lawrence's mother claims BBC is hounding the missing university chef ... trends now
Claudia Lawrence's mother has claimed the BBC is chasing her missing daughter for her licence fee and has threatened court action - 14 years after she disappeared.
The chef, then 35, has not been seen since she failed to arrive for work at the University of York in March 2009, but letters have still been arriving at her property from the corporation.
Detectives believe Ms Lawrence - who lived in the Heworth area of York - was murdered, although no body has ever been found.
But her mother Joan, 79, has revealed how demands at her daughter's terraced cottage have 'threatened court action and a £1,000 fine', The Sun reports.
She says the demands have caused 'untold heartache' and has called on police to stop the BBC sending letters to the property.
The chef, then 35, has not been seen since she failed to arrive for work at the University of York in March 2009
Her mother Joan, 79, has revealed how demands at her daughter's terraced cottage have 'threatened court action and a £1,000 fine'
Joan has preserved her daughter's house alone following the death of her ex-husband Peter aged 74 in 2021.
He had campaigned to get answers to the puzzle of her disappearance and spent years arguing for what became the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill - also known as Claudia's Law - which allows relatives to take control of their missing loved ones' financial matters.
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.
After finding a letter at her daughter's house threatening court action and a fine in January, Joan contacted the TV Licensing Authority to plead them to halt sending the demands.
But her desperate request was ignored and another letter subsequently arrived at the address.
Joan said receiving the letters is causing her 'untold heartache', with demands for payment still arriving despite efforts to notify all relevant parties.
It comes despite her daughter's disappearance, and a public appeal from Joan, having featured on the BBC's Crimewatch programme.
She added: 'You’d think they’d know by now, after all the publicity, wouldn’t you?
'They must have sent two or three letters a year in all the time this has been happening. One was nasty and horrible. It threatened that not paying could affect her credit score.
'I’m not someone who has ever had any debts, I pay for things straight away, so it was an awful thing to read. It really must stop.'
Police officers searching the land at Sand Hutton Gravel Pits near York in connection with the disappearance in August 2021
Ms Lawrence's father, Peter (pictured together), died last year without knowing what happened to his daughter
She drives half an hour to visit Claudia's cottage from her own home in Malton, North Yorkshire, every fortnight.
Tory MPs have slammed the BBC for continuing to send letters to missing Claudia.
Kevin Foster, MP for Torbay, told The Sun: ' My heart goes out to Claudia’s mum Joan. It just gets worse for the BBC, it is simply impossible to justify these demands.
'If anything, it only advances the cause of decriminalising paying for a TV service.'
Morecambe and Lunesdale MP David Morris added that the situation was 'a disgrace' and there are 'simply no excuses'.
Police activity around Claudia'a case increased in 2021 when the North
