Search: Claudia Lawrence
The father of missing university chef Claudia Lawrence has dismissed speculation that his daughter could have gone off with a new boyfriend.
Solicitor Peter Lawrence said the 35-year-old told her friends about everything she did and it was highly unlikely she would have met somebody and not let them know.
"It is just so unlikely. I think one of her friends would have known," Mr Lawrence told the BBC1 programme Missing Live.
"She's the sort of person who is bubbly, who's sociable, who chats to her friends, and so if I didn't know, her friends would have known and also she didn't have much time to do it, did she?"
Police fear Miss Lawrence might have come to harm after meeting someone she knew.
She was last seen close to her home in Heworth, York, after she finished work at the University of York's Goodricke College and was dropped off by a colleague on Wednesday last week.
On Thursday, detectives leading the search drafted in civilian search and rescue teams to scour open ground.
Mr Lawrence, who lives near Malton, North Yorkshire, said the family and police need to know what Miss Lawrence did between getting home on Wednesday and failing to turn up for a meeting with a friend on Thursday evening.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
Earlier, the Archbishop of York said prayers would be said throughout the day at his residence, Bishopthorpe Palace, on the outskirts of York.
John Sentamu said: "We will be lighting a candle of hope for Claudia in the chapel at Bishopthorpe, where prayers will be said on the hour for Claudia and her family. When I asked Peter Lawrence if there was anything I could do for him, his answer was simple: 'Pray'."
