Slain British woman was being stalked by suspect; father holds news conference

A 22-year-old British woman found dead Monday in a condominium in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, had been stalked by the man who is the primary suspect in her death, police said Wednesday. Lindsay Ann Hawker was stalked by Tatsuya Ichihashi, a 28-year-old Japanese who has gone missing and is wanted on suspicion of abandoning her body. He had visited her home and given her a note in which his name and phone number were written, according to the police.

Police are searching for the Ichihashi on suspicion that he had a hand in the death of Hawker, who worked as an English teacher for Nova Co.

In Tokyo, Hawker's father, William, was enraged and tearfully vowed to see justice is served in connection with the death of his daughter, who finished her university last year and came to Japan in October.

"My daughter did not come here to be murdered. She came here to help people. She came here to teach," he said in a shaking voice, tears rolling down from his eyes. "I will not rest until the man who killed my daughter is caught."

Hawker explained tearfully how he had believed that Japan was a safe place and that Lindsay, who was teaching English at a language school, was "tricked" into going to the suspect's condominium where her body was found Monday "under the pretext of giving an English lesson."

"My daughter was a lovely girl. She would help anybody and it was because she would help anybody she is where she is now," he added.

"I believe this man was a loner...some sort of social misfit who targeted my daughter and he must be caught," Hawker said, and called for the public for any information related to the case.

Hawker also said he believed there was not "any sort of relationship" between his daughter and the suspect.

Lindsay's boyfriend Ryan Garside also attended the press conference and said how they loved each other and wanted to get married, but the tragedy had "ruined" their plans.

Meanwhile, Chiba prefectural police said Wednesday an autopsy showed Hawker may have died of suffocation. There were bruises on her face and elsewhere on her body, they said.

One of her friends, a 27-year-old American man, said that Hawker had planned to give Ichihashi a private English lesson on Sunday, the day before her body was found buried in sand in a bathtub on the balcony of his fourth-floor condo unit on Monday night.

The friend said he does not know how she came to offer such a lesson or how they got acquainted.

Police said that Hawker and Ichihashi apparently came to know each other several days before her body was found. They denied rumors that the two had been dating.

Meanwhile, in England, Hawker's two sisters paid an emotional tribute outside the family home. Lisa and Louise Hawker fought tears as they read prepared statements in Coventry, central England.

"Our sister Lindsay was our best friend. She was extraordinary in so many ways," said Lisa Hawker, 25. "Like so many people our age she wanted to see the world, and for some reason felt safer in Japan than in this country.

"We are all made constantly aware of the dangers on our own streets. Thousands of young people go abroad each year, and for some reason the dangers of home seem to be forgotten.

"If Lindsay's death can make at least one young person abroad be more vigilant, then perhaps one more family can be spared the pain, the devastation, and the despair we are all experiencing."

Louise Hawker, 20, said: "Our family are so close and we have been torn apart by what's happened. "You never think a thing like this could happen to you. We are normal people, and it does, and it hurts more than you can imagine."