West Midlands

Lindsay's body was found in a bath of sand and soil in a Tokyo apartment in March 2007, but the prime suspect in the case has never been caught.

BBC Inside Out returned to Japan at the end of February 2009 in an attempt to cast fresh light on the investigation.

Prime suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi.

Reporter Matthew Gull was granted an interview with Japanese police on the condition that every single question was submitted and vetted in advance.

Despite the prime suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi, escaping from nine police officers in bare feet, Mr Oguma told Matthew that his officers had done their job properly.

Mr Oguma says: "At the stage that the investigators went to Tatsuya Ichihashi's apartment it was still not clear that he was involved in this incident and it was not clear that she (Lindsay) was already murdered.

"Therefore the investigators who went there were faced with difficult decisions...

"I believe those investigators conducted their job appropriately, in accordance with the law and other regulations."

Fresh questions

But the BBC investigation has brought fresh questions about the effectiveness of the Japanese police inquiry.

Inside Out tracked down the taxi driver who drove Lindsey and Ichihashi back to his apartment on the day she was killed.

Shinya Oguma led the police inquiry.

Yoshiaki Ishizuka's evidence that, despite the rain, he was asked to stop a long way short of Ichihashi's home, raises concerns over the police belief Lindsay's murder was not pre-meditated.

"This is the road I took on that day with these two people. In the car they were not talking at all. Along here he [Ichihashi] said, here is fine. The light was green like now, so I just crossed the street and then I stopped the car and here I dropped them.

"He said wait four or five minutes but that day was rainy and it was quite busy, so I couldn't wait for him so I just gave him a receipt. Like this I stopped the car."

When asked how he could be sure that he had dropped the pair off in that location, rather than outside Ichihashi's apartment, Yoshiaki Ishizuka replied:

"That's because I told the police at the time… that's why I clearly still remember it now."

Inconsistencies and contradictions

The taxi driver's account also contradicts reports that both Ichihashi and Lindsay were dropped off right outside the apartment, in full view of its CCTV cameras.

But despite these inconsistencies, the police have never shown any of the reported CCTV footage to the taxi driver.

Lindsay Hawker - contradictions.

The police have refused to discuss the CCTV footage or their reasons for replacing Mr Oguma as head of the investigation.

Inside Out also spoke to Bill Hawker, Lindsay's father, who told us:

"Every day is hard for us… my life will never be the same again. We want justice for Lindsay… each day goes by and sometimes I feel like never getting up.

"But we have to keep getting up…have to keep finding a little bit more about how this could've happened."

Search for justice

Mr Hawker is off to Tokyo again soon, to mark the second anniversary of Lindsay's death.

He says he hates going back, but now it is the only practical thing he can do:

Bill Hawker - searching for answers.

"I'd like to see him [Ichihashi] brought to justice before I take my natural course.

"That's all I want; to see him caught. Look him in the face and say why did you do that to my beautiful daughter."

The Inside Out team also track down witnesses involved in the case including an old college friend of Ichihashi's.