Father of British woman found dead in Tokyo bathtub appeals for information

The father of a British woman whose body was found in a sand-filled bathtub at an apartment near Tokyo appealed for information on her death, tearfully telling a news conference Wednesday he will not rest until the suspect is caught.

The naked body of English teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, was found buried Monday in a bathtub filled with sand on the balcony of an apartment in Ichikawa city, just east of the Japanese capital.

Police are hunting for the apartment's 28-year-old Japanese male resident.

"My daughter didn't come here to be murdered. She came here to help people, she came here to teach," Hawker's father, William, told reporters in Chiba, near Ichikawa, wiping away tears with a handkerchief.

"I will not rest till the man who killed my daughter is caught," he said, appealing to the Japanese public to come forward with any information that might aid the investigation.

The dead Briton's father, who spoke with police after arriving in Japan early Wednesday, was accompanied by Hawker's boyfriend, Ryan Garside.

"She was the best thing in my life," a distraught Garside said at the press conference, adding he had planned to ask Hawker to marry him.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of Hawker's death. The Japanese man, who local media said had recently asked Hawker to give him private English lessons, fled past police officers Monday as they were questioning his neighbors and has not been found.

The chain of language schools that Hawker worked for, Nova, reported her missing to police Monday after her British roommate called to say she had not arrived home from work and could not be reached on her cell phone.

The case comes ahead of a verdict in the trial of a Japanese businessman accused of raping and fatally drugging British bar hostess Lucie Blackman in 2000.

Joji Obara, 54, has been charged with rape leading to the death of Blackman. Prosecutors claim Obara gave her a fatal drug overdose and raped her before dismembering her body.

Blackman was working at a Tokyo night club when she disappeared. Her remains were found near Obara's beachside condominium near the capital in 2001.