THE tragedy of Claudia Lawrence, the university chef who disappeared more than two years ago, could ultimately help the families of other missing people.

Her father Peter will this week be giving evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry examining the plight families are left in when a loved one disappears.

Mr Lawrence, a solicitor from Slingsby, near Malton, North Yorkshire, will attend the inquiry at Westminster on Thursday when he will address the issue of whether a system of legal guardianship could help families manage a missing relatives practical affairs.

He claims families are currently left "in limbo" as there is no way of proving whether a relative was dead or alive and because there is no simple way to deal with practical issues such as a missing person's property and finances.

Others who will be speaking at the inquiry include Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared in Portugal in 2007 and Rachel Elias, sister of missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edward.

Mr Lawrence said that since his daughter was last seen he had discovered no-one had any rights. "It's impossible to deal on a legal basis with the property, or even day-to-day matters like the tax or insurance, if somebody is missing," he said.

Miss Lawrence, a chef at the University of York, was 36 when she disappeared in March 2009 and police are treating the case as one of suspected murder.

Originally from Darlington, she as brought up in Malton and by the time she went missing was living in Heworth, York.

The Westminster inquiry has been organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Runaway and Missing Children and Adults.

At the moment a person must be missing for seven years before they can be presumed dead and the charity Missing People has been campaigning for a new law to change that.

They want anyone with an interest in a missing person's affairs to have the right to apply to the High Court for them to be presumed dead with no minimum time limit.

The charity's chief executive, Martin Houghton-Brown, said: "From dealing with finances, insurance policies, bank accounts and mortgages through to having a missing person declared presumed dead, families left behind often struggle to deal with institutions that have no system for their clients going missing.

"This inquiry is a landmark opportunity for parliamentarians to ensure that families are able to access the full range of support that they so desperately need."

The inquiry will be co-chaired by a cross-party panel and the Ministry of Justice has said it will consider the inquiry's findings seriously.