Japan high court upholds life sentence for murderer of Briton
10:54, 11 April 2012
TOKYO. April 11. The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court's ruling Wednesday that sentenced a Japanese man to life imprisonment for murdering a British woman in 2007, rejecting his appeal for lighter punishment.
Tatsuya Ichihashi, 33, was given a life sentence at the Chiba District Court in July 2011 for strangling English teacher Lindsay Hawker, 22, after raping her at his apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, around March 25, 2007, Kyodo reports.
The lower court also ruled that Ichihashi dumped her body in a sand-filled bathtub on his balcony.