Reward rises in hunt for killer of Lindsay Ann Hawker
Police hunting the killer of a student from Coventry in Japan have raised their reward to 10 million yen (£63,000) in an attempt to revive the two-year-old investigation.
Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, from Brandon, was found dead in March 2007, her body taped up and half-buried in a sand-filled bath on the balcony of an apartment in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.
She was an English teacher at a private language school. The prime suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi, who was her student, has been on the run since police found Ms Hawker's body at his apartment.
The increased reward underscores the desperate effort by Japanese police to resolve the high-profile case. The average amount paid for tips for murder, rape, kidnapping and arson is normally between one and three million yen.
Police will begin offering the reward next Monday for one year, the National Police Agency said in a statement, to "increase chances of the arrest or resolving the high-profile case."
Since Ms Hawker's death, her family has visited Japan several times, appealing to police and the public for help in finding the suspect.
