WE have nothing but admiration for Joan Lawrence.

Admiration at how she has coped with the disappearance of her daughter, Claudia, nearly 14 years ago. It must be so difficult with that great unanswered question continually gnawing away to keep going, to keep facing the world, to keep being strong.

Admiration at how she refuses to allow Claudia’s story to fade from the public eye, because her hope is that someone will remember something that will lead to an answer.

Admiration at how she wakes every morning with the torment of not knowing and yet she still thinks of others – she reached out to the family of Nicola Bulley when she went missing in Lancashire last month.

And admiration at her latest brave plan which is to turn Claudia’s empty house in York into a home that can help a refugee or a survivor of domestic violence.

“I’ve always wanted something positive to come out of all this,” she says, selflessly, thinking how the house could help someone who was fled the war in Ukraine or who is just struggling to make ends meet during our cost-of-living crisis.

We wish Joan, whose hometown is Darlington, good luck in this charitable venture, but more than anything, we wish her resolution. Someone somewhere must have a piece of information that can solve the mystery, and we hope that when they hear of Joan’s admirable generosity that person will reciprocate by providing her with an answer.