BBC ‘hounds Claudia Lawrence for TV licence fee’ 14 years after chef went missing
Missing Claudia Lawrence’s heartbroken mum Joan says the BBC continues to hound her daughter for her TV licence fee 14 years after she vanished – and in January threatened court action
Claudia Lawrence with her father Peter
The BBC is claimed to be hounding missing Claudia Lawrence for her TV licence fee – 14 years after she mysteriously disappeared.
The missing chef’s mum said pushy letters are still being sent to her daughter’s terraced cottage in York, with one in recent weeks even threatening court action and a £1,000 fine.
Heartbroken Joan, 79, said it “needs to stop”, adding the barrage is causing the family “untold heartache”.
She estimated two or three letters have been sent every year since Claudia went missing.
Joan said she attempted to contact the TV Licensing Authority – operated by the Beeb – after her daughter was threatened with legal action in January but was ignored and another letter followed.
Claudia was 35 when she vanished on her way to work at York University on March 18, 2009.
North Yorkshire Police have treated the case as murder but despite multiple people having been arrested and released over the years her fate remains unclear.
Mum Joan Lawrence said the BBC’s hounding of her daughter is distressing (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
Joan continues to maintain her daughter’s home alone after ex-husband Peter died aged 74 in 2021.
She drives there from Malton, North Yorkshire, every two weeks.
She told The Sun: “I’ve written to them to tell them what’s happened, and the police are supposed to be sorting it out, but the letters still come.
“Receiving these letters causes me untold heartache.”
Claudia’s appeal even appeared on BBC show Crimewatch, with Joan baffled as to how they can still be expecting her to respond to the letters.
She said one was particularly “nasty and horrible”, threatening that not paying up could affect her credit score.
The BBC is hounding missing chef Claudia Lawrence for her TV licence feeCredit: PA
“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,” said Joan.
She added that her visits to Claudia’s home are “emotionally draining” and affect her for days before and after.
More than 52,000 people were fined following TV licence prosecutions in the latest figures from 2020.
An estimated 76 percent of them are women.
In January, BBC chairman Richard Sharp criticised the £159-a-year licence fee as a regressive tax.
The TV Licensing Authority told the Sun: “We are sorry for any distress caused to Ms Lawrence.