THE mother of missing chef Claudia Lawrence has told of her sadness as she prepares for another family celebration without her daughter.

Joan Lawrence told The Northern Echo that her instincts tell her the 35-year-old is still alive.

Mrs Lawrence said her daughter had already missed her 66th birthday and Mothering Sunday.

Tomorrow will be the fifth birthday of the chef’s nephew, Luke.

She said keen horserider Claudia adores the son of her sister, Ali Sims, and has pictures of him and his younger brother, Joshua, throughout her home, in York.

She said: “I am thinking about her all the time. Every single day and night she is on my mind.

“I just want her back, no matter what, and it would be wonderful if she could be at Luke’s party on Sunday.”

In an emotional video appeal, Mrs Lawrence, who was born and brought up in Darlington, spoke out about the intense media speculation surrounding her daughter’s private life.

She said: “That is not her, she is not that kind of person.

She would be absolutely appalled by what has been said.

“With the hours Claudia worked and looking after the horses, she could not physically have done all the things they said.

“She would not have had time for a start, and she would never ever hurt anyone.”

Claudia was last seen in York on March 18.

Mrs Lawrence, from Norton, near Malton, North Yorkshire, said she believed her daughter was abducted as she walked to work.

She said: “I have to believe she is still alive. As a mother’s instinct I do believe she is.”

She made the video appeal on a visit to All Saints’ and Salutation Church, in Blackwell, Darlington, where she married her former husband, Peter – Claudia’s father.

Members of the congregation have prayed for Claudia’s safe return.

During the visit, she told of the moment police said her daughter was missing.

She said: “I was away at my daughter’s in Derbyshire. We were sorting the children out because it was getting towards bedtime.

“Ali (her daughter) had a phone call and I said it will be for you, it won’t be for me.

“She came in the lounge and said ‘Claudia’s disappeared’.

“It didn’t register. Then she said the police were looking for her. My world suddenly fell apart – I was numb.”