THE Japanese man accused of killing Lucie Blackman, the British bar hostess, offered £300,000 to her father to prevent him from speaking in court about the devastating grief caused by her death, The Times has learnt.

Tim Blackman refused the offer this month from lawyers acting for Joji Obara, a 52-year-old property developer accused of killing Ms Blackman with an excess of drugs and then disposing of her dismembered body in a seaside cave in 2000.

Mr Obara made a similar offer of A$500,000 (£200,000) to the bereaved family of Carita Ridgway, an Australian woman who died in 1992, allegedly after being drugged and raped by him. This was also refused, but he has paid about £10,000 to at least one of eight other women who accuse him of rape.

Defendants in Japanese courts often pay compensation to victims or their relatives. When this is accompanied by an admission of guilt and an apology, judges will take it into account when passing sentence. But Mr Obara insists that he has committed no crime and denies all charges against him.

His strategy seems to be to reduce the impact of hearings due to be held in the Tokyo District Court next month, where Mr Blackman and his former wife, Jane Steare, will describe the effect that the death of their daughter has had on their lives. “I find it absolutely astonishing that someone who’s got money could potentially reduce their sentence,” Mr Blackman told The Times. “The whole idea is bizarre.”

Mr Obara is trying to use the money offer to his advantage. In a hearing in the Tokyo District Court last week, he said that Mr Blackman had accepted the cash, but had changed his mind after the intervention of Japanese police. Mr Blackman says he responded in the hope that it would lead to an admission of guilt, but that he never had any intention of accepting the money.

Initially, they offered £200,000, but increased this to £300,000 on condition that Mr Blackman did not appear in court next month and renounced the right to bring a civil case against Mr Obara. “There is no agreement, there is no money (to be paid), and there is no forgiveness,” Mr Blackman said.

Ms Blackman went missing in July 2000 when working as a hostess in a Tokyo bar. In February 2001 her body was dug up in a cave a few hundred yards from an apartment owned by Mr Obara. He admits he was with Ms Blackman on the night of her disappearance, but insists he had nothing to do with her death.

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