Trial date set in Lindsay Ann Hawker Tokyo murder case

The trial of a Japanese man accused of killing a British teacher found buried in a sand-filled bath starts next week.

Japanese student Tatsuya Ichihashi, 30, is accused of murdering Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, from Brandon near Coventry.
She was last seen alive after giving Mr Ichihashi an English lesson in a coffee shop on 25 March 2007.
Her body was found at his Tokyo flat in March 2007. The trial, which her family will be attending, is due to start in Chiba, near Tokyo, on 4 July.
Under the Japanese court system her family will be allowed to question the defendant, at the court's discretion.
Mr Ichihashi was arrested at a ferry port in Osaka, southern Japan, in November 2009 after he went on the run.
He was later charged with the Leeds University graduate's rape and murder.

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