Blackman family in dispute as murder suspect cleared
The 21-year-old’s mother Jane Steare accused her ex-husband of undermining the case against property developer Joji Obara.
Yesterday, she released a document allegedly signed by Tim Blackman which apparently questions the prosecution case. And she has accused Mr Blackman of accepting “blood money” signed and dated on the same day by way of compensation from Obara’s friend.
However, Mr Blackman said he had no regrets about taking the payment, which is common practice in Japan. And Matt Searle, from the Lucie Blackman Trust, insisted Mr Blackman only signed the document “to highlight any discrepancies in the hope that prosecutors would look into the matter further”.
Obara, aged 54, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of nine rapes and the death of an Australian woman.
However, the Tokyo District Court cleared him of raping and killing Miss Blackman, from Sevenoaks, Kent, who disappeared in July 2000 while working as a bar hostess in the Roppongi bar district of Tokyo.
