Lucie suspect on new rape charge

Lucie Blackman: Missing since July

A suspect in the disappearance of British bar hostess Lucie Blackman in Tokyo has been served with a fifth arrest warrant in connection with a series of rapes.

Joji Obara, a 48-year-old property developer, pleaded not guilty last month to charges of drugging and raping four women at his seaside condominium since 1996.

The victims included a Canadian and a British girl working as nightclub hostesses in Japan.

Police said the latest charge related to the rape of a Japanese woman in her twenties in January last year.

They said the woman, who was also drugged, had sustained a burn during her ordeal which required a month of treatment.

Tactics

Mr Obara's lawyers have called on investigators not to serve their client with any more warrants.

In a letter to the Metropolitan Police Department and the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, they accused investigators of threatening further warrants as a ruse to break Mr Obara's silence.

Ms Blackman, 22, from Kent, who had been working as a hostess in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district, went missing after reportedly going out for the day with a client on 1 July 2000.

In a statement released through his lawyers, Mr Obara has admitted meeting Ms Blackman at the club where she worked, but denies any involvement in her disappearance.

The businessman has so far remained silent during police questioning about Ms Blackman.

However, police have said DNA tests on hair found at Mr Obara's home "just about conclusively prove" that he took Ms Blackman back to his condominium south-west of Tokyo.

Reports say a call in July made by a man claiming that Ms Blackman was undergoing cult training has also been traced to Mr Obara's mobile telephone.