THE mother of Claudia Lawrence has revealed that letters still arrive at the house from the TV licensing authority, including threats of a £1,000 fine and court action.

Joan Lawrence, who will be 80 this summer, said ahead of the 14th anniversary of her disappearance this weekend: “You’d think they’d know by now, after all the publicity, wouldn’t you? It’s unbelievable. I’ve written to tell them what’s happened, and the police are supposed to be sorting it out, but the letters still come.

“I probably get two or three a year and one of them earlier this year was really nasty, saying they’d take it to court and it would threaten my credit rating. It’s horrible because I’m not someone who’s ever had any debts – I pay my way straight away. It’s horrible.”

TV Licensing last night pledged to put a stop to the letters being sent to the house.

Joan is also to explore the possibility of handing her missing daughter’s empty house over to a charity to help people in need.

“I’ve always wanted something good to come out of this, and there’s no point in the house just standing empty forever,” said Joan.

The two-bedroomed terraced house in Heworth, in the suburbs of York, was a crime scene at the start of the long-running inquiry, but now Joan says it has been left “in limbo”.

The mortgage has been written off by Santander as an act of goodwill and, since the death of her estranged husband, Peter, in February 2011, Joan has assumed responsibility for checking the property every fortnight.

She admits to being “torn” over its future. She’s reluctant to lose the connection to Claudia and possible clues to her disappearance, but her overriding feeling is that she wants the house to be put to charitable use.

“If I did let it go, I wouldn’t take a penny from it – I couldn’t do that. The connection to Claudia would go, and there are still people who believe the answer lies in that house, but I can’t leave it empty much longer – it needs to have a purpose.

“I’m going to explore the possibility of a charity using it – maybe for homeless people, or students from poor backgrounds, a Ukrainian refugee family, or victims of domestic violence. With a bit of care, it could be a home again.”

A customer relations spokeswoman said: “I can confirm that we have applied a marker to the address to stop TV Licensing letters from being sent in the future. This marker will remain in place until we are contacted by Mrs Lawrence.”