As the murderer of Claudia Lawrence's childhood best friend Lisa Welford faces sentencing, the Mirror takes a look at the University of York chef's disappearance 15 years on

The heartbroken mum of missing chef Claudia Lawrence has revealed her daughter's best friend was murdered. Joan, 81, wept in agony as she told how Claudia's childhood bestie Lisa Welford was killed. She said Lisa followed Claudia around like "a shadow' and they became “inseparable” when they were children.

Missing chef Claudia Lawrence’s childhood friend was drowned in a river by her abusive partner, a court heard.

Claudia Lawrence's mum shares heartbreaking snaps of her missing daughter and her murdered best pal. The pair were "inseparable" and "joyful" as children but ended up having "terrible" things happen to them.

Ms Lawrence was 35 when she was reported missing after failing to turn up for work at York University on March 18 2009.