THE sister of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence has said she wants to give her a birthday hug.

This week marks Claudia’s 40th birthday, and next month is the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, but despite a huge police hunt and ongoing appeals, police still do not know her whereabouts.

Ali Sims, Claudia’s older sister, told a national Sunday newspaper her sister “would have wanted to celebrate her birthday in style”, with people who were special to her.

She said: “I long so much for the day my sister comes home. All I want to do is give her a hug. "We’re going to take Mum out for the day to try to keep her ­occupied so she doesn’t think about Clauds not being there.”

Ali now lives with her husband Danny, 40, and sons aged nine and five in Derbyshire’s Peak District, said one of the most difficult things to deal with is that her youngest boy has no recollection of her sister.

The five-year-old was just six months old when Claudia disappeared in March 2009, and will often point to a picture of Claudia on the mantelpiece and ask who she is.

Ali said she hoped North Yorkshire Police’s Major Crimes Unit review into the investigation would help find some evidence as to Claudia's whereabouts.

She said: “They said they want to start from scratch in the hope a pair of fresh eyes will bring up something new. Not knowing is so hard. Every day I live in dread of bad news.

“Until there is any evidence to say otherwise I’m holding out she is alive and being held ­somewhere against her will. We’ve been through utter hell for five years and if there is someone who knows something , please, just tell the police.”