THE father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has said it is a "pity" recently-released information which could hold vital clues to her disappearance was not revealed for five years.

A recent Crimewatch appeal revealed sightings of two men near Claudia's Heworth home around the time she vanished in March 2009, as well as CCTV footage of a driver suddenly braking close to her house on the morning she disappeared. A cold-case review also found DNA on a cigarette in her car and mystery fingerprints in her home.

Claudia's father Peter Lawrence said: "There are parts of the evidence which could have been released earlier that they have had since the start.

"It is a pity this hasn't been made public sooner. I don't know why it wasn't. I think it would be far easier to remember something which happened five weeks ago had they released it then."

North Yorkshire Police last week said it has received 28 calls since the Crimewatch programme on the fifth anniversary of Claudia, then 35, disappearing and more than 21,600 people have viewed appeals on the force's facebook page.