A solicitor whose daughter went missing last week retraced Claudia Lawrence’s route to work today appealing for the public’s help to find her.

Peter Lawrence walked towards the University of York’s Goodricke College, as police officers searched the area for clues that may help explain why she did not arrive for work last Thursday morning.

The chef, 35, is thought to have left home in Heworth Road, York at around 5.30am to embark on the three-mile walk to work. She took no money, no bank cards and left her passport at home. Her family said her disappearance is completely out of character.

Mr Lawrence handed out flyers and posters today at a parade of shops in Melrosegate, on the outskirts of York. He took to the streets a day after making an emotional appeal for help to find his daughter as detectives said they could not rule out the possibility she had been abducted.

His A4 sized posters featured a picture of 35-year-old Miss Lawrence and the words: “Have you seen her?”.

He said: “There is no reason for Claudia to be missing. She had no reason to go, no problems, no troubles.

“It appears from everything at the house as though she had set off for work with her little rucksack and left all the things at her home that she would leave if she was going to work like bank cards, jewellery and everything else.

“She tends to leave very early in the morning. There wouldn’t be many people around but the more we can get this on a national and regional and local news in an ordered way then people may suddenly have their memories jogged.

“It’s hellish difficult for me to do this but it has got to be done.

Mr Lawrence said the family was trapped in a “living nightmare” as he appealed for his daughter’s safe return at a news conference yesterday.

The alarm was raised by Suzy Cooper, a friend of Miss Lawrence, last Friday. They had arranged to meet on Thursday evening, but she never arrived. Ms Cooper called the family when she was still unable to contact her friend on Friday morning.

Ms Cooper said she “presumed she had just fallen asleep during the evening”. She added: “The next day I tried to call her and text her but there was no reply, which was unusual.”

Ms Cooper said that when she went to Miss Lawrence’s house on Friday there were no indications that anything was wrong. “Her bag was hanging from the bed and her best coat was there.”

A spokesman said that the University of York was very concerned for Miss Lawrence’s well-being and was offering its full support to the police inquiry.

The missing woman is white, 5ft 6in, slim, with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and white trainers.

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