A Japanese man detained over the murder of a young British teacher has refused to speak about the case following his arrest earlier this week.

Tatsuya Ichihashi had been on the run since the body of Lindsay Hawker was discovered in a tub of sand on the balcony of his flat in early 2007, also had about 300,000 yen (£2,000) in cash on him, police say.

Mr Ichihashi was picked up on Tuesday at a ferry terminal in the western city of Okinawa, where he was trying to catch a ship to Okinawa island, carrying a small gun designed to fire tear gas when he was arrested, it has emerged.

Detectives have begun interrogating Mr Ichihashi at the Gyotoku Police Department in Chiba prefecture but officials said he was only willing to talk about his early life.

Police said that Mr Ichihashi would be questioned for up to 20 days before prosecutors decide on an indictment. He was arrested on a charge of abandoning a body rather than the more serious crime of murder, which is a capital charge in Japan.

The case has received massive media coverage in Japan and reporters and TV crews yesterday got the first sight of him since his arrest when he was transferred to the prosecutors office. The 30-year-old's face was largely shrouded by his clothes but local media said that he appeared tired and thinner than at the time of his arrest.

Ironically, Mr Ichihashi appears to have been undone by his own attempt to change his appearance through plastic surgery.

According to Japanese press reports, he had earned the money for the surgery as a construction worker in Osaka, where he had lived in a small room in a company dormitory, working hard and keeping himself to himself.

On October 13 he went to a clinic in Fukuoka and requested surgery to alter the shape of his mouth. He was turned down because his face showed signs of previous operations to thin his lower lip. He also appeared to have had surgery on his eyelids and had two distinctive moles, which had been highlighted on wanted posters, removed from his right cheek.

Ten days later he went to another clinic in Nagoya, where he had an operation to raise the bridge of his nose. He paid in cash and told staff at the clinic that he was staying at local “love hotels”, where couples rent rooms by the hour.

After those visits, police had issued posters showing Mr Ichihashi's changed appearance and his cover was finally blown when an employee at a ferry terminal in Kobe noticed a surgery mark on his nose.

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