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TOKYO - The father of a young British woman whose naked body was found in a bathtub filled with sand begged the Japanese public today to help catch his daughter's killer, saying the killer had "brought shame" on Japan.
Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, a teacher from Brandon near Coventry, was found dead, apparently suffocated, last Monday in the city of Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.
Police have issued an arrest warrant and launched a nationwide hunt for Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, the Japanese man who lived alone in the apartment where her body was found. The warrant is for "abandoning a corpse".
"My daughter loved this country. She loved meeting Japanese people, and thought of Japan as an honourable society, built on trust and respect," William Hawker said in a statement read at a brief news conference by British Ambassador to Japan Graham Fry.
"My daughter's killer has now brought shame on your country. He must be caught. He cannot be allowed to hide away," said the statement, which Fry read in English and Japanese.
"I still respect this country and its people. I know that you place great importance on family and community links.
"So, as a father, I appeal to you -- if anyone can help the police to find my daughter's killer, I beg you to come forward."
Ichihashi fled when police arrived to question him on Monday, losing his shoes and a rucksack he was carrying in a chase.
Japanese police on Sunday declined to say whether there was any fresh information about Ichihashi's whereabouts.
A solemn Fry also made a plea for the public to help.
"We are grateful that the Japanese authorities are doing all that they can, but they will need the help of the Japanese public to catch the criminal, and so I echo the appeal made by Lindsay's father for anyone who can help, please, please to come forward."
William Hawker said last week that his daughter had done extensive research on the internet before coming to Japan and that her family had agreed it was a safe place to live.
A police spokesman said on Friday that Ichihashi had approached Lindsay Hawker outside a train station the previous week and asked her for English lessons.
When she did not oblige, he followed her to her apartment and asked her for a drink of water. With three colleagues present, she let him in, and while he was there, he drew her portrait and wrote down his name and phone number, the spokesman added.
The case comes less than a month before a verdict is due in the trial of Japanese businessman Joji Obara, accused of killing 21-year-old British woman Lucie Blackman in 2000.
Police found Blackman's mutilated body buried in a seaside cave near an apartment belonging to Obara, who has denied the charges against him.
Police arrested Obara nine months after she disappeared, although he had long been the prime suspect and was already in jail facing five charges of raping Japanese and foreign women and another charge involving sexual violence resulting in the death of a young Australian woman.
- REUTERS
