Lucie hunt police find head and torso

Police searching for missing British bar hostess Lucie Blackman have found a head and torso buried in a cave on a beach near Tokyo.

Police searching for missing British bar hostess Lucie Blackman have found a head and torso buried in a cave on a beach near Tokyo.

Investigators have been looking for the missing 22-year-old from Kent since July, when she disappeared after saying she was going to the ocean with a client.

A police spokeswoman says the unearthed body parts also include a hand and a pair of feet.

The remains are being taken to Tokyo for identification, with results expected on Saturday.

They were found near the seaside apartment of Japanese businessman Joji Obara who was arrested in October and accused of drugging and raping several women including a Canadian hostess and another Briton.

The discovery comes as the Yomiuri newspaper says police have traced a call to Obara's mobile phone that was made by Miss Blackman on the day she disappeared.

Miss Blackman's father, 47-year-old Tim Blackman, says Japanese police have told him of the discovery.

"They have told us that something has been found but they haven't been able to confirm who it is," he said from his home on the Isle of Wight.

Police have not officially linked the discovery to Miss Blackman.

But he says investigators are focusing their search for clues into the woman's disappearance on the area around the beach, just south west of Tokyo.

Obara, 48, has been charged with raping four women since 1996 after inviting them to his flat and giving them drugs.

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