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Japanese murder suspect confesses to murder in his book
The Japanese man accused of murdering British teacher Lindsay Hawker has written a book confessing to the killing - and has promised to donate the proceeds to her family.
The book, which is released on Wednesday, was written by suspect Tatsuya Ichihashi while in prison awaiting trial.
It details how he spent two and a half years on the run following the 22-year-old's murder in 2007 and how he underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance.
Ichihashi also apologises to the Hawker family, claiming he wrote the book as "a gesture of contrition for the crime I committed", but does not elaborate on the crime or his motives.
Hawker was found dead in a sand-filled bathtub on the balcony of Ichihashi's apartment in Chiba, east of Tokyo, in March 2007. Ichihashi, 32, was one of her students at an English language school.
He was arrested in Osaka, in western Japan, on November 10, 2009 and has been in custody since.
In a statement from his lawyers, Ichihashi said he hoped to give royalties from the book, titled Until the Arrest, to the Hawker family, and if rejected, use it for a good cause.
