By Paul Sims for MailOnline Updated:
Missing chef Claudia Lawrence had as many as 40 secret lovers and targeted married men, a close friend revealed yesterday.
She contacted many of them via text message and 'got a kick out of it', he said. The friend, who did not want to be identified, said she was also a heavy drinker who was 'reckless' and 'easily led'.
Police were last night trawling through her mobile phone records to identify the many numbers listed on bills in the hope that it may yield some kind of breakthrough.
Missing chef Claudia Lawrence (left) with the landlord of the Nag's Head pub Simon Foreman and friend Suzy Cooper
In a Crimewatch appeal broadcast last month detectives leading the hunt for the missing 35-year-old said she had a 'mysterious and complex' love life.
Until now her friends and family have been reluctant to speak about any possible liaisons she may have had in the past.
But her friend said that it was important the public should be given a complete picture of her character, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday he said: 'She went for married men.
'She did it because she could. She was young and pretty and she got a kick out of it.
'She's a lovely girl but she'd turn on the charm in a quiet way and draw attention to herself. It always seemed to revolve around people who were with someone or married.
'I could never get my head round it. There were rumours she'd been seeing a policeman. I don't know if that's true, but there were so many people, builders and others, and they'd all be a bit older and with a bob or two.'
Anguish: Peter Lawrence, Claudia's father, has campaigned tirelessly throughout the three months she has been missing
Since her disappearance on March 18 the focus of the police investigation has shifted significantly to her personal life and the many possible liaisons she may have had.
One of those involved with her was married scrap-metal merchant Lee Horwell. Their two-month affair, which began two and a half years ago, broke up his marriage to Beth, a nurse and the mother of his two children.
'I've been questioned by the police three or four times,' admitted her friend.
'When I looked back and thought about it, I realised there had been a lot of men. I reckon there must have been 30 or 40.
'She was always secretive, always texting. Her phone would beep all the time, even when you were out for a drink with her. I thought it was quite rude.
'I once went to the pub with her and she made eye contact with a bloke. The next thing I knew she was like, 'Right, I'm off. I've got to go,' just like that.
'When I looked over, the bloke was texting. I asked her the next day, 'So what time did you get home last night?' And she said, 'I can't remember.' There were a lot of secrets.'
He added: 'The problem was, she was easily led. If you asked her out for a drink, she'd never say no, even if she'd had a really hard day at work.'
Claudia's friend, who has never been in a relationship with her but has known her for more than eight years, said he was one of her closest confidantes.
He said The Nag's Head pub in York was the centre of Claudia's social life. Last week officers raided the pub for a second time since her disappearance and took away two bed sheets for examination.
Thirteen officers with two specialist search dogs spent six-and-a-half hours working through every part of the pub, including the five guest bedrooms.
Officers initially searched the pub 10 days after she disappeared. But they returned last week for a second and full-scale search operation three months into their 'suspected murder' inquiry.
North Yorkshire Police said the operation was an 'integral part' of the investigation, but claimed the search was not the result of a specific tip-off.
Miss Lawrence was last seen alive on March 18. She was at home that evening and planning to walk to work for her 6am shift in a canteen at York University.
Police are investigating the Nag's Head pub in York, said to be the centre of Claudia's social life
The alarm was raised after she did not turn up for work and failed to meet a girlfriend for a pre-arranged drink in the pub.
One former boyfriend of Miss Lawrence yesterday said that she could have made herself vulnerable to approaches from men because of the amount of alcohol she drank.
Builder Paddy McGinty, 46, met Miss Lawrence when she was 20 years old and was with her for 10 years.
Mr McGinty, from Norton, North Yorkshire, said: 'There might have been one or two men and she might have been vulnerable to others. She liked a drink. 'We broke up about five years ago.'
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