Japanese detectives investigating the disappearance of a British woman in Tokyo questioned her best friend yesterday, and said she may have deliberately run away rather than being abducted.
Louise Phillips, whose friend and flatmate, 21-year old Lucie Blackman, vanished 11 days ago, spent seven hours in Azabu police station in central Tokyo being questioned about the case.”The police are not making any inquiries other than of Ms Phillips,” said Detective Inspector Toshihiko Mii, the officer in charge of the investigation. “Speaking personally, it’s possible she [Ms Blackman] got to know someone, was attracted to him and ran away. There are many possibilities and we don’t rule anything out.”Ms Phillips, who worked with Ms Blackman in a hostess bar in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, is the last person known to have spoken to her on the day of her disappearance. She told police that Ms Blackman called her to say she was on her way home, but never arrived. She received a phone call 24 hours later from a Japanese man claiming Lucie had joined a religious cult in the neighbouring prefecture of Chiba.Subsequent speculation focused on the possibility that she had been abducted by someone she met through her work as a hostess. But the police appear, for the time being, to be focusing on Ms Blackman’s friends and family.

They have interviewed the owner of the hostess bar where the two women worked, but have not spoken to any other of the young women who worked there, and have not made any inquiries in Chiba.Tension appears to be growing between the police and the Blackman family. Inspector Mii complained yesterday that Ms Blackman’s younger sister, Sophie, who arrived in Tokyo eight days ago, was not being co-operative. “She says that she cannot answer any of our questions without the permission of the British embassy,” he said. “It is possible that her attitude could delay the investigation but we are not in a position to force her to speak if she takes that attitude. It’s very strange.”Lucie Blackman’s father, Tim, flew to Tokyo yesterday.

He is expected to be taken straight to the British embassy where he will be briefed on the police investigation Mr Blackman. a property developer from Ryde, Isle of Wight, said yesterday: “This meeting will give me the chance to tell them what information we’ve had back at home in England.”Sophie Blackman, who is 19, insisted yesterday that the police had not asked her any questions, but the strain of the last week appears to be taking its toll on her, as well as on Lucie’s British boyfriend, Jamie Gascoigne, who has also travelled to Tokyo. As Ms Phillips emerged from police questioning yesterday evening, she was told by Sophie not to talk to the media. When a reporter attempted to speak to Ms Phillips, her way was blocked by Mr Gascoigne.Sophie Blackman issued a statement yesterday asking the media to give her family “space and time”. “While my family and I appreciate the concern expressed by the media, I would like to stress that our priority is to find Lucie and take her home,” the statement said.. By day – unless you knew exactly what you were looking for – you could pass by a thousand times and never give a second glance to Bar Casablanca.

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