The Press Association: Rights appeal over missing people

Rights appeal over missing people

(UKPA) – 2 hours ago

The father of missing chef Claudia Lawrence has backed a campaign calling for more rights for families left in limbo by a disappearance.

Peter Lawrence, 63, said families had no simple way to deal with unresolved practical issues such as property, bank accounts and insurance because it was impossible to prove whether a missing person was dead or alive.

Mr Lawrence, whose daughter went missing from York in March last year, added it was "absolutely necessary" for families to be given more support as he backed the Missing Rights campaign to give families the same rights as victims of crime.

"One of the things I have found over the past 21 months Claudia's been missing is that nobody has 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.

Missing People, the charity behind the campaign, called for a "presumption of death" act to be introduced in England and Wales, for banks to introduce standard mortgage arrangements for families of missing people and for insurance companies to freeze or take over a missing relative's policy payments.

Mr Lawrence, from Slingsby, North Yorkshire, added that, as a solicitor, he was lucky in many ways as he knew who to contact and where to find help.

He was joined by missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richard Edwards's sister Rachel Elias, who called for an "overall change in culture" to ensure missing people and their families were properly supported.

There were over 330,000 incidents of people going missing last year, the charity said.

It called for a missing persons co-ordinator in each region who would hold local services to account, a named single point of contact in the police for someone dealing with their case and for all unidentified bodies to be checked against missing person reports.

More support for families was also needed, the charity said as it called for a network of specially trained counsellors to be developed to support their needs.

Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

via google.com