Police in York are searching a flooded quarry for the remains of Claudia Lawrence, who went missing in 2009.

The search is focused on Sand Hutton gravel pits, a popular spot for angling in Sand Hutton, a village eight miles north-east of York.

Underwater search teams and forensic officers would be at the pits for several days, North Yorkshire police said.

Lawrence, who was 35 and worked as a chef at the University of York, was reported missing on 20 March 2009 after she failed to turn up for an early morning shift the day before.

Police closed off a road near the gravel pits outside the York Biotech Campus earlier on Tuesday.

Search activity could be seen taking place beyond the cordon about a mile from the main A64 road between York and Malton. Police vans and an incident command unit trailer were parked along the side of the road and a number of areas of the forest were cordoned off.

Officers could be seen searching undergrowth along a public bridleway through the forest. The search area includes two former gravel pits, that are believed to have been used as fishing ponds since 1969.

After Lawrence’s disappearance, police quickly formed the view that she was murdered and the search for her killer became a national news story.

Nine people have been arrested over the course of the investigation, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) always felt there was insufficient evidence to charge any of them with her murder.

In a statement at the gravel pits on Monday, Det Supt Wayne Fox, the head of North Yorkshire police’s major investigation team and the senior investigating officer in the case, said: “Whilst I’m unable to disclose what brought us to this location, I would like to stress that the searches that you will see in the coming days are just one of several active lines of inquiry, which are currently being investigated and pursued by North Yorkshire police major investigation team in our efforts to establish what happened to Claudia and to identify any person responsible for causing her harm.”

The Lawrence family had been told about the search, he added. Lawrence’s father, Peter, who campaigned to change the law so that families can take over the affairs of missing loved ones, died in February aged 74 without knowing what had happened to his daughter.

The quarry search is one of many carried out by North Yorkshire police over the past 12 years – all of which have so far led to nothing. Search locations included the biology department of the University of York, The Acomb pub in York, and Lawrence’s home in Heworth, a mile north-east of York city centre.

A number of hoaxes wasted police time. Richard O’Rourke, 48, of Lincoln, was jailed for 18 months for hoax calls on the first anniversary of Lawrence’s disappearance that suggested she was buried in Heslington, a York suburb, prompting a pointless four-day search.

A teenager from Oxfordshire was also cautioned after leaving a message on Facebook purporting to be from Lawrence, which said: “Hi everyone just let you be aware that I am ok and I am safe and sound. Speak to all soon. Claudia. xxx.”

Hundreds of officers across various forces were involved initially but the investigation has been scaled back over the years.

Speaking on the 10th anniversary of her disappearance in 2019, Det Supt Dai Malyn, of North Yorkshire police, said: “It remains the case that we strongly suspect key and vital information is being withheld that could provide the breakthrough that we all want to see, not least Claudia’s heartbroken family.

“Unless we get information or intelligence to suggest that Claudia came to harm as a result of an opportunity taken by someone unconnected to her, me and the team still strongly believe the answer lies locally.”

He said police were confident that a breakthrough could come from the public sharing information with the force, as in other cold cases.

The investigation was hindered by a lack of CCTV around Lawrence’s home, as well as the fact she had neither a smartphone nor a social media profile when she vanished.

Lawrence’s mobile phone did not leave the area before it left the phone network, which police believe lends weight to the theory that her attacker was known to her.

Her phone – a silver Samsung D900 – and blue and grey Karrimor rucksack in which she carried her chef’s whites have never been found.