Lucie Blackman worked as a nightclub hostess in the Roppongi district of Tokyo

Police found her dismembered remains on 8 February this year in a cave on a beach at Miura, at the mouth of Tokyo Bay.

Mr Obara, a millionaire property developer, told the court he had taken Ms Blackman to his beachside apartment but denied there had been any sexual contact between them.

He said they had had some drinks together and watched videos all night.

He told the court that when he left home the following morning, Ms Blackman had stayed behind.

Mr Obara said he felt some responsibility for what had happened to Ms Blackman but had done nothing to bring about her death.

The court heard allegations that Mr Obara had dismembered Ms Blackman's body with a chainsaw and then dumped the body in a beachside cave near his apartment.

Mr Obara was also charged with raping nine other women, some of them foreign bar hostesses.

Ms Blackman had been working as a bar hostess in the city's Roppongi entertainment district to fund a trip round Asia, after giving up her job as a British Airways stewardess.