Lucie family visit body site

Lucie Blackman went missing in Japan in July 2000

The father and sister of a bar hostess killed while working in Japan have revisited a cave where her remains were found more than two years ago.

Tim Blackman and his daughter Sophie, 22, laid a rose and drank champagne at the seaside site where police dug up Lucie's body.

Miss Blackman's remains were discovered in the cave in February 2001, seven months after she went missing from Tokyo, where she worked in a bar.

The trial of the man accused of killing the 21-year-old, a former British Airways flight attendant from Sevenoaks in Kent, is expected to start on Thursday.

Denies charges

Japanese property developer Joji Obara, who faces a manslaughter charge, denies fatal assault, or rape resulting in death.

It was the first visit by Miss Blackman's family to Japan since March 2001, when they made the trip to fly her body home from Miura, a seaside resort near Tokyo.

Mr Blackman, who comes from the Isle of Wight, spent tens of thousands of pounds on his own investigation into his daughter's disappearance.

He said last week he was disappointed Mr Obara was facing only a manslaughter charge.

The Blackman family is due to see Mr Obara for the first time when he appears at Tokyo District Court for a hearing.

If convicted, the 48-year-old faces three years in prison.