Police searching for missing chef Claudia Lawrence have drained a lake.
Ms Lawrence, 35, went missing 12 years ago as she walked to work for a 6am shift at York University.
Officers are conducting detailed searches of an area around a popular fishing spot, a few miles from the centre of York, after receiving new information from the public.
The operation in and around the gravel pits near the village of Sand Hutton began last week. Police have also searched a lake which is located around seven miles from where Claudia was last seen.
Officers used ground penetrating radar equipment and cadaver dogs as well as carrying our a fingertip examination of the lake’s bed.
Ms Lawrence’s mother, Joan, has said the new searches have left her in “utter shock”.
Mrs Lawrence told reporters she was “very, very churned up” about the latest developments in the investigation.
Speaking to The Mirror she said: “As a mum, hearing about a lake being drained and a fingertip search being carried out is just a nightmare.
“No parent should ever have to endure this. I’m left wondering every day what is going on and what might be found.
“Would it be her rucksack, her phone or anything at all?”
Police believe Ms Lawrence – who lived in the Heworth area of York and worked at York University – was murdered, although no body has ever been found.
She was last seen on March 18 2009. North Yorkshire Police has conducted two investigations and questioned nine people in relation to her disappearance and suspected murder. No charges have ever been brought.
Speaking after he took over as senior investigating officer in the case earlier this year, Detective Superintendent Wayne Fox repeated the belief that several people know, or have suspicions about, what happened to the 35-year-old.
