Murder victim's father accepts payout from suspect's friend

The father of murdered British hostess Lucie Blackman has accepted a payout from an old friend of the Japanese man charged with killing his daughter, he said today.

Tim Blackman was paid 100 million yen (€670,000) by a college friend of Joji Obara, who is currently on trial for allegedly abducting the 21-year-old, then raping and killing her before disposing of her body.

Mr Blackman said Obara still denied the charges but was aware his friend, an industrialist with businesses in Japan and the UK, had made the offer of condolence which is acceptable under Japanese law.

He admitted that Lucie's mother, who he is now divorced from, saw any payouts as "blood money" and that his two other children, Rupert and Sophie, also disagreed with his decision to take it.

He said: "I know my ex-wife referred to it as blood money but I do not understand that or see that at all. I think it is through lack of information.

"The majority of the money will be put into an account somewhere and we will see how everybody feels about it at the end of the trial.

"It is really difficult as a parent and head of a family to make decisions sometimes when people have lots of different views about it but at the end of the day you have to make the decision that you are going to make."

Lucie's brother and sister were "not in agreement" with his decision at the moment, he said.

"There is just so much emotional stuff attached to anything relating to Lucie's death. It is difficult for them to see backwards and forwards."

He explained he had taken the offer because the opportunity for a payout was due to expire at the end of this month and if Obara were to be found guilty, there would be no chance of a civil suit because he has been declared bankrupt.

A substantial amount of the money will go to the Lucie Blackman Trust, created in Lucie's name while the rest is likely to be used to support the Blackman family in the future.

He said the offer would not have any impact on the trial, where prosecutors are due to start giving their closing statements this Tuesday.

Lucie, a former flight attendant from Sevenoaks in Kent, was working as a hostess in a nightclub in the Roppongi district of Tokyo when she vanished in July 2000.

Her dismembered body was found in a cave in Miura, a remote and secluded fishing village outside Tokyo in February 2001 after a seven-month search.

Obara's four-storey apartment block, where it is claimed he chopped up Ms Blackman's body and encased her head in concrete, is about 100 yards from the cave where her body was found.

Both Mr Blackman and Lucie's mother, Jane Steare, were offered money by her alleged killer to stop them giving evidence in court, but refused.

Defendants in Japan who admit their guilt can pay compensation to their victims or their families as a way of expressing remorse. Judges then take the payments into consideration when passing sentence.

Obara, however, maintains his innocence and denies any involvement with Ms Blackman's death and it is understood the payment by his friend will not affect the trial.

Her father said they were not prepared to accept the original offers because they came with conditions about "forgiveness" and asked them to say they didn't think he was guilty.

However, it became clear later that another offer was being made by an old friend of Obara's.

Mr Blackman, who travelled to Tokyo last week to organise the payment, said he believed this was because the Japanese were so appalled by the crime.

He added that Obara had "attached himself" to the offer because it was made by his friend, but his defence lawyers were against it because they felt it made him "look more guilty than he claims to be".

Obara also denies nine other drug and rape charges, dating from 1992 to 2000, including one in which an Australian woman, Carita Ridgway, apparently died.