Suspect in murder of British woman had face-lift in Nagoya

Nov 4 01:39 PM US/Eastern

CHIBA, Japan, Nov. 4 (AP) - (Kyodo)

A fugitive suspect in the 2007 murder of a British woman had cosmetic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture last month, investigative sources said Wednesday.

The Oct. 24 surgery is the first solid information in the ongoing hunt for Tatsuya Ichihashi, 30, who is wanted in connection with the murder of Lindsay Hawker, 22, a language teacher whose body was found at his apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, since March 2007.

The Chiba police will soon publicize a new photo of Ichihashi as the surgery, according to the sources, made him look very different from how he looks in the photo that has been released by the police as the suspect in the Hawker case.

The police have already dispatched investigators to Aichi to search for other traces of Ichihashi, such as at hotels in Nagoya.

Ichihashi went missing after fleeing from police officers on March 26, 2007 at his apartment, where Hawker's body was found in a sand-filled bathtub.

According to the sources, he had his nose altered at the Nagoya clinic having entered a false name and an address in Osaka Prefecture and paid for the surgery in cash, but did not return to have the stitches removed on a later appointment day in late October.

The police believe Ichihashi, who had single-edged eyelids, a fat lower lip and two small spots on his left cheek, may have repeatedly had cosmetic surgery during his flight.

William Hawker, the victim's father, said in a statement that the family has never given up hope that Ichihashi will be caught, but expressed dissatisfaction that he has not received any official confirmation from the police about the latest report. He also said that "two years of freedom" for the suspect is "too long."

"Who is hiding him? Which hospitals or clinics carried out the work and why would they operate on a man who is allegedly the most wanted man in Japan?" the statement said, adding the family want to know "the facts, not just rumors."

The mother, Julia, told the Daily Telegraph "We feel very let down." "We have been told that this is the biggest man-hunt ever staged in Japan and no one in the country can say they don't know who Ichihashi is."

"So why did nobody say anything when a young man has gone into this clinic and asked the doctor to change his appearance?" she was quoted as saying.

"This is obviously very upsetting for us, but it also raises lots of questions -- where has he been living? How has he been earning money? Where has he got enough money for plastic surgery?" she said.

"But the most upsetting thing for us is that no-one has done anything about this sighting, it has come out in the media and the police always seem to be there after the event," she added.

Hawker's relatives have visited Japan several times, hoping to resolve the case, while the National Police Agency raised the cash reward for information leading to Ichihashi's arrest from 1 million to 10 million yen in June this year.