Family of teacher demand maximum jail term for Japanese murderer

THE FATHER of a British teacher strangled and raped in Japan has appealed for her killer to be given the stiffest sentence possible.

Lindsay Hawker, 22, was found dead at Tatsuya Ichihashi's apartment in Ichikawa City, east of Tokyo, in March 2007.

Ichihashi, 32, this week admitted raping and strangling the English language teacher but said he did not intend to kill her.

Miss Hawker's father Bill yesterday asked for Ichihashi to receive the "heaviest punishment" available under Japanese law when he gave evidence to the trial in Chiba District Court.

Ichihashi went on the run after Japanese police discovered the teacher's battered and bound body buried naked in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of his flat. He was finally arrested in November 2009, having undergone cosmetic surgery.

Leeds University graduate Miss Hawker, from Brandon, near Coventry, travelled to Japan in 2006 to work as an English teacher.

Mr Hawker was called as a witness and told the prosecutor at Chiba District Court how proud the family was of her going to Japan to teach English.

The defence claims that Ichihashi tried to revive Miss Hawker after accidentally strangling her while trying to prevent her crying out for help. As a result, Ichihashi should face a lesser charge of inflicting injury, causing death, his defence team told the court.