Tokyo businessman arrested in connection with Lucie death

A Japanese man has been arrested in connection with the death of Lucie Blackman.

The British consulate in Tokyo confirmed that businessman Joji Obara, 48, had been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, killing, mutilating and abandoning Lucie.

Under Japanese law, he was formally arrested and the charges put to him at 9.30am local time (2.30am Irish time) today.

It is expected that prosecutors will charge him with the offences in the next few days.

In July 2000, Obara is thought to have invited former flight attendant Lucie, then 21, to have lunch at his condominium south of Tokyo. He is suspected of slipping sleeping drugs into her drink.

Obara has been in police custody since October on charges of drugging and raping other Western women. He has pleaded innocent to all the accusations.

Police said Obara remained silent when told of the Lucie Blackman accusations.