UK NEWS

FURY OF LUCIE DAD AT 'KILLER' WEBSITE

The four and a half year battle for justice is almost at an end for Tim Blackman

Sunday April 22,2007

By Erin Miller

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THE father of murdered bar hostess Lucie Blackman has spoken of his “distress” after extracts from her diary were published on the website of the man accused of killing her.

Japanese businessman Joji Obara, 54, is on trial in Tokyo for the abduction and rape of the 21-year-old, whose dismembered body was found seven months after she disappeared in the summer of 2000.

He has denied the charges and the rapes of eight other women.

The website, The Truth about Lucie’s Case, which was reportedly created at Obara’s request by his lawyers, claims Lucie was a manic depressive and drug user who died from an overdose.

The diaries tell of Lucie’s insecurities about her appearance, her nightlife antics with friends and describes her struggles to adjust to life in Japan as a bar hostess.

But her father Tim said: “I find it very distressing that my daughter’s private diary is published like this. Lucie lived at home with her mother until she went to Japan. The idea that six weeks later she was a heavy drugs user is ridiculous.

“And if this is what happened, why didn’t he tell this story when he was arrested rather than coming out with it years later?”

Mr Blackman and Lucie’s sister Sophie, 26, yesterday flew to Tokyo for the final day of the four-and-a-half year trial of Mr Obara. They will be in the city’s District Court on Tuesday as judges decide if Obara is guilty or not.

Mr Blackman, 53, from the Isle of Wight, has spent tens of thousands of pounds travelling to Japan, in his quest to bring his daughter’s killer to justice.

He said: “This has been a long time. The hearing on Tuesday will signal the end of a parallel life I have had in Tokyo and that is going to be a great relief.

“I do not know what to expect. It’s a complicated trial. I’m apprehensive about it because there is an awful lot of circumstantial evidence and he has denied the allegations.” Lucie’s mother, Jane Steare, 52, is not expected to attend the hearing.

Obara’s website also includes a disturbing description that outlines how foreign bar hostesses received payments when they “played” with him.

After drinking several shots of a drink known as Philippine liquor, his partner “loses her consciousness”. It goes on: “Then the accused (Obara) puts on a mask and begins the play.”

Ms Blackman, a former flight attendant from Sevenoaks in Kent, was working as a hostess in a nightclub in the Roppongi bar district of Tokyo when she vanished in July 2000. In February 2001 her dismembered remains were found in a cave 100 yards from Obara’s home in Miura, a remote fishing village outside Tokyo.