THE FRIENDS of Claudia Lawrence say they have been subjected to online abuse since her disappearance.

As the family of the missing chef quietly marked what is her 40th birthday today (Thursday, February 27), two of her closest friends said their attempts to publicise her disappearance had resulted in unpleasant comments and accusations.

Suzy Cooper and Jen King set up pages on social media such as Facebook in a bid to spread the word about their friend’s disappearance and appeal for information that may help the investigation. But in doing so they were targeted by anonymous online trolls.

Jen King told a radio broadcaster: “Both Suzy and I have had the finger pointed at us as behind her going missing, which obviously is totally untrue, be it from people that claim to be psychic or claim to have seen or heard us. It’s just patent lies.

“I’ve been told by people to just ignore it but it’s just not that simple, it’s not human. Our best friend went missing and somebody has the audacity to say, “well, you’re behind it” how could you not take that personally?”

She said she has taken herself off social media networks now, to protect herself from further abuse.

March 18 will mark five years since Ms Lawrence went missing. Alarm bells were raised after she failed to turn up to the University of York for work. After speaking to her parents on the telephone the night before, she has never been seen or heard from since.

At one stage, more than 100 police officers were involved in the investigation and the search for Ms Lawrence extended to the Republic of Ireland and Cyprus.

Peter Lawrence said told The Northern Echo this week that her absence felt as raw now as it did when she went missing.

Claudia and her family came from Darlington and later moved to Malton, North Yorkshire, where she was brought up.