A NEIGHBOUR of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has hit out at police who searched his house as part of their investigation, claiming they left it ‘ransacked’.

Blake Beresforde, who lives two doors away from Claudia, has also said he feels he is being treated as the main suspect in her disappearance.

The 21-year-old chef said he knew Claudia on a neighbourly basis, but that the two were not friends, or in a relationship, and that she had never been inside his home.

Mr Beresforde said he was shocked when he received a call from friends on Friday night to tell him that police had smashed through his front door to search the property.

"My best wishes go out to her family – I hope she is found safe and well," he said. "But I just want to be left alone and I want the police to sort out the damage they’ve done to my house and say publicly they have eliminated me from their enquiries."

Mr Beresforde claimed police had taken the panel off his bath, cracking it, had left muddy footprints all over the house and had opened bags of rubbish all over the floor.

Nobody at North Yorkshire Police was available to comment on the incident.