Ichihashi handed to prosecutors

CHIBA--A somewhat gaunt Tatsuya Ichihashi was handed over to the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office on Thursday to face questioning about the March 2007 murder of Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker.

Ichihashi, 30, arrested Tuesday after more than two and a half years on the run, faces initial questioning of illegally disposing of Hawker's body, which was found in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of his apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The 22-year-old had been working in Japan teaching English.

Ichihashi wore a dark blue windbreaker with its hood low over his eyes. His cheeks appeared pinched compared to a photo of him released by the police Nov. 5 after he had undergone plastic surgery.

Police said Ichihashi had skipped all meals Wednesday through Thursday morning. He was arrested in Osaka while waiting for a ferry to Naha.

Flanked by police officers while photographers and reporters jostled for position, Ichihashi boarded a van at the Gyotoku Police Station in Ichikawa around 11:30 a.m.

A Tokyo Broadcasting System employee who crossed police lines and ran up to the van was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police in their official duties.

Meanwhile, investigation sources said Ichihashi adopted at least two aliases--Takeshi Iijima and Kazuo Fujii--besides Kosuke Inoue.

Ichihashi introduced himself as Kosuke Inoue when he lived in a construction firm dormitory in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, for about 14 months from August 2008.

A man believed to have been Ichihashi also lived in a construction company dormitory in Kobe from late February to June 2008, calling himself Kosuke Inoue.

Ichihashi's take-home pay for the four months he worked before he disappeared June 27 came to about 550,000 yen, sources said.

Ichihashi used the same alias when he visited a Fukuoka hospital on Oct. 13 this year to inquire about having plastic surgery.

According to Chiba police and other sources, Ichihashi also registered as a member of an Internet cafe in Fukuoka that same day, using the alias Takeshi Iijima and presenting ID in that name. Investigators suspect he either forged it or obtained it through wrongful means.

When he underwent surgery on his nose at a Nagoya hospital on Oct. 24, he apparently used a still different alias, likely Kazuo Fujii.

Police suspect Ichihashi used Internet cafes to keep track of progress in the investigation, search for new aliases and check phone numbers.

At the two construction firm dorms where he lived, he gave the same address in Osaka's Minato Ward for contact. A man who lives at that address had no connection to Ichihashi's case, police said.(IHT/Asahi: November 13,2009)