COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A Japanese man has admitted raping and killing a British teacher whose body was found buried in a bathtub.



Tatsuya Ichihashi, 32, is accused of murdering Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, from Brandon near Coventry.

Her body was found in a sand-filled tub at the defendant's home east of Tokyo in March 2007.

At the opening of his trial Ichihashi admitted raping Miss Hawker and causing her death but said he did not intend to kill her.

The defence said Ichihashi had tried to revive his English teacher after accidentally suffocating her in an attempt to stop her from crying out for help.

'Hoping for justice'

Ichihashi told the court: "I did not intend to kill her, but I am responsible for her death."

"I am very sorry for what I did," he added.*

The crime potentially carries the death penalty but prosecutors have yet to enter a sentencing demand.

Miss Hawker taught Ichihashi English at a private language school in the city of Chiba.

After her death he published a book in which he confessed to the killing and described how he spent two-and-a-half years on the run and underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance.

He was eventually arrested in the city of Osaka in November 2009.

Miss Hawker's parents, Bill and Julia, are attending the trial at Chiba District Court and under the country's legal system they are entitled to question the defendant but at the discretion of the court.

In a statement read by Mr Hawker when the family left England for the trial, he said: "We're hoping to get justice for our daughter.

"That has always been our only aim."

A verdict is expected before the end of the month.

Lindsay Hawker killer Tatsuya Ichihashi loses appeal

A Japanese man who raped and killed a British teacher before dumping her body in a bath filled with sand has lost an appeal against his life sentence.

Tatsuya Ichihashi was jailed in July last year for the murder in 2007 of Lindsay Hawker, 22, from Warwickshire.

At the appeal, his lawyers argued the sentence was too harsh and repeated the claim made at his trial that he had accidentally suffocated Miss Hawker.

But judges at Tokyo High Court rejected the argument and upheld the sentence.

Miss Hawker's family, who did not attend the hearing, said in a statement: "We are relieved that the original decision was upheld and that Ichihashi's appeal was refused."

At the time of his trial Ichihashi admitted raping and killing Miss Hawker but said she died by accident when he tried to muffle her screams.

He was on the run for two years and eight months after the death of Miss Hawker, who was from Brandon, near Coventry, and had been teaching him English.

Her body was found in the sand-filled bath in his apartment in March 2007.

Prosecutors at his trial argued the murder was premeditated and he had strangled Miss Hawker after raping her.

They repeated this argument at his appeal and said the life term was justified.

After the judges rejected Ichihashi’s appeal, the presiding judge read a statement from Miss Hawker’s family.

Under Japanese law he will have to serve a minimum of 10 years before he can be considered for parole.