The close friend of Nicola Furlong who was with her on the night of her death broke down in tears as she told a Tokyo court she believed drinks spiked with drugs were the reason the two of them blacked out after drinking with the man accused of strangling Ms Furlong and another man standing trial for assaulting the unidentified Irishwoman last May.

The family of Nicola Furlong came face to face with the student’s alleged killer for the first time yesterday, when the trial of the American musician Richard Hinds began in Tokyo.

Only 11 days ago, Andrew Furlong spoke to his daughter Nicola, who was in daily contact with her family from her temporary base in Japan, when she joked about how her name might be in the newspapers.