22 year old British woman found buried in sand in bathtub on Veranda

[Samurai_Jerk]

Two stalker stories:

Japan Times

Daily Mail

Too bad the chick that wrote that Daily Mail article is full of shit. British women are not "so much taller" than the average Japanese guy. Plus this kind of shit happens everywhere.

[lolhahaha]

Too bad the chick that wrote that Daily Mail article is full of shit. British women are not "so much taller" than the average Japanese guy. Plus this kind of shit happens everywhere.

Also since when is a size 5 shoe bigger than anything over here? Size 5 is pretty small actually. She makes it sound like Women in Japan are 4 feet tall and wear toddler shoes, lol.

The whole thing sounded like it was from a paranoid woman to me. Guys have the same sort of things happen all the time over here and never think twice about it. Sure, there is a 1 in a million chance that someone might be a psycho but I think 99.999% would go away if you say leave me alone.

[Mike Oxlong]

Keep the info flowing! I'd hate to see this case fade quietly away...

[Mike Oxlong]

News on the case is at a standstill Bit too skeptical to believe "no news is good news".

Only 30,000 of these out...enough for every man, woman, and child in one square block maybe.

[GuyJean]

Sort of related...

Father in Japan for Lucie Verdict
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6578485.stm

The father of British hostess Lucie Blackman is flying to Japan to hear the judges' verdict on her alleged killer.
Tim Blackman, 53, said he was apprehensive but relieved that the four and a half year trial was set to come to an end.

Businessman Joji Obara denies abducting, raping and killing 21-year-old Miss Blackman.

Ms Blackman's body was found in a remote fishing village near Tokyo in 2001, seven months after she vanished.

Mr Blackman said he did not know what the judges at Toyko District Court would decide when they announced their verdict on Monday or Tuesday...

GJ

[TFG]

Let's hope they don't decide that because he is Japanese, from a rich and influential family and the victim foreign that they will give him a suspended sentence.

[Mulboyne]

Sort of related...

Father in Japan for Lucie Verdict

It's worth reiterating that the court might not find Obara guilty of killing Lucie Blackman but might convict him of killing Australian Carita Ridgway. There are also a number of other charges so this isn't just about Lucie Blackman, albeit that her case is the most politically charged.

[Oradea]

I reckon theyll have to let him go. That guy has enough money to weasel outta anything

[Hokgwai]

Where the hell is this SOB??? Even if he killed himself, (which I don't believe he did) he would have turned up by now. How can anyone disappear for weeks on just 50,000 yen? Without shoes for that matter?? Someone is hiding him out.

[Mulboyne]

How can anyone disappear for weeks on just 50,000 yen?

I'm not sure how the police are so certain that he only had 50,000 yen. Perhaps he made a withdrawal of that amount before he fled but it would take no account of how much cash he may already have had.

[Behan]

It seems like someone would have seen him. I think he probably has someone hiding him.

[Mike Oxlong]

Are there aiding & abetting laws in Japan? If so, are they enforced?

[Mike Oxlong]

This blog entry relates to the aiding & abetting theme. Is silence when you have information, standing by while crime occurs, aiding the crime/criminal?

[Mike Oxlong]

Funeral held in Britain one month after the murder...

[Takechanpoo]

new video about Ichihashi is released

[Mike Oxlong]

Ex-police sergeant says J-cops f'd up big time...

[Greji]

Ex-police sergeant says J-cops f'd up big time...

They may have made a mistake, but let's be realistic. They didn't have a crime until they found her planted in the bathtub. If the guy said "I'm splitting" and boogied. They may not have had probable cause to physically restrain him at that moment. Granted when he started running, they could use that as a reason to give chase as "suspicious activity", but he already had the jump. So unless there is more that they aren't telling, I think the ex-police rep (like so many of them) is just playing this up as an armchair quarterback, looking for news royalties and communtator spots, as well as a chance to hawk his own books.

There is nothing greater for career enhancement for a JP keystoner than apprehending a murderer and with a high news profile case involving a gaijin victim, it was instant promotion and many kudos. Since this was a hot case, I think they would have been all over this guy, if they would have found any reason initially.

The fuzz always make nice whipping posts and where they do make some massive screw ups, but like in so many of these cases, I think we need a bit more info.

It is much more interesting as to how this scroat can vanish into clear air with no apparent trace. As others have posted, I think somebody knows, or is actually hiding him.

[Catoneinutica]

It is much more interesting as to how this scroat can vanish into clear air with no apparent trace. As others have posted, I think somebody knows, or is actually hiding him.

Good post, gboothe. Methinks that he's being hidden with his parents' contrivance. Double-income doctor parents (well, Mom is a dentist) operating a clinic? One day's receipts would be enough to finance Junior's on-the-lam-going for a year (I understand they've discreetly put the clinic on hiatus). Certainly they have a few bundles of ichi-man-en notes around the house and/or clinic to help out their errant son.

[Mike Oxlong]

Hawker's parents make plea for information.

[Captain Japan]

[akatsuka]

thats good. i thought it had been quietly forgotten >_<

[Jack]

Do Japanese police actually solve any crime? The police force doesn't strike me as very strong or sophisticated. I thought they're only good at giving directions. Mind you there is so few crime in Japan that maybe they think they don't have a need to invest in training and people. Imagine if you had a SWAT team in Tokyo they might go years without being called for service.

[Mulboyne]

Evening Standard: Lindsay Ann Hawker's killer still on the run

...Nine police officers went to his flat on the evening of Monday, March 26. They approached Ichihashi as he was leaving yet, somehow, he managed to flee down the building's fire escape. Bill says: "Even though they'd missed him once, when I left Japan I had every faith they would get him. Everyone told me, "Don't worry, we always get our man."' Yet they are no closer to finding Ichihashi and the family is baffled by anomalies in the investigation. The authorities have distributed 30,000 wanted posters in Tokyo, but Ichihashi's picture is at least six years old. Detectives also claim that because Tokyo residents are now wearing masks to protect against hay fever, it makes it difficult to recognise people.

They have not involved Interpol because they are convinced it is a domestic matter after finding Ichihashi's passport in his flat. Yet he spells his surname three different ways, raising the possibility that he may have more than one passport. Somehow, he has survived for eight weeks without using a credit card, leading to suspicions that a family member is helping him. Ichihashi's family live in an expensive home 180 miles from Tokyo. Bill and Julia have asked them to make a public plea to their son to give himself up but they seem reluctant, which the Hawkers find painful and incomprehensible.

Bill says: "We're disgusted. He's the only suspect. I know that Japanese society works on reputation and respect, but what respect have they for us or our daughter? I had a girl who would have made a difference in this world. But where is he? "Somebody's supporting him. His father has refused to come out of his palatial home. The family have not offered any help towards the capture of their son." The Hawkers both know that they can never truly lay Lindsay to rest until her killer is caught...more...

[GuyJean]

[Doctor Stop]

Do Japanese police actually solve any crime? The police force doesn't strike me as very strong or sophisticated.

The sad story Jack, is that they aren't very good at policework. What they are good at is beating, I mean persuading, innocent people into giving false confessions.

If criminals weren't as equally inept as the police, Japan would be a war zone.

[Takechanpoo]

What they are good at is beating, I mean persuading, innocent people into giving false confessions.

I once suffered investigation by police.
They dont need evidence at all.
nothing but YKZ office.

[kamome]

I once suffered investigation by police.
They dont need evidence at all.
nothing but YKZ office.

What did you do? We want the details!

[Greji]

I once suffered investigation by police.
They dont need evidence at all.
nothing but YKZ office.

When'd you get out?

[Captain Japan]

[Mulboyne]

ZAKZAK (not a reputable news source) speculates that Ichihashi is hiding out in Shinjuku's Kabukicho. They say that recently police have been searching near Shinjuku Station East and West exits as well as nearby Chuo koen. A man drinking in a bar in Kabukicho says he was recently shown a photograph of Ichihashi and asked if he had seen the man. A women working in a bar in Golden Gai was asked by police if he had approached her for work. ZAKZAK doesn't indicate whether the police have any particular leads in this line of investigation or else are simply working on the hunch that Ichihashi might think he can hide in the relative anonymity of Shinjuku crowds. The article doesn't say but Kabukicho probably has the highest concentration of CCTV cameras anywhere in Japan.