Fry with Lindsay’s picture at the news conference. (Reuters)

Tokyo, April 1 (Reuters): The father of a young British woman whose naked body was found in a bathtub filled with sand begged the Japanese public today to help catch his daughter’s killer, saying the killer had “brought shame” on Japan.

Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, an English teacher from Brandon near Coventry, was found dead, apparently suffocated, last Monday in the city of Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.

Police have issued an arrest warrant and launched a nationwide hunt for Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, the Japanese man who lived alone in the apartment where her body was found. The warrant is for “abandoning a corpse”.

“My daughter loved this country... loved meeting Japanese people, and thought of Japan as an honourable society, built on trust and respect,” William Hawker said in a statement read at a news conference by British ambassador to Japan Graham Fry. “My daughter’s killer has now brought shame on your country,” the statement said.