The mother of a British bar hostess found dead in Japan says she tried to stop her daughter from making the trip to the Far East.

More than two years after the disappearance of Lucie Blackman, 22, from Sevenoaks in Kent, a series of trials is about to begin in Tokyo involving the man accused of raping and fatally assaulting her.

Her father Tim and sister Sophie became the public face of her family's grief after Lucie vanished on 1 July last year.

But in an interview with BBC London, Lucie's mother Jane has told how she had a bad feeling about her daughter's trip and tried to stop her going.

I tried absolutely everything I could to stop Lucie going to Japan, and it was as if she was meant to go there

Jane Blackman

She said: "I really didn't want her to go and I just had a gut feeling that something awful was going to happen to her and I couldn't explain why.

"She just said: 'Mummy, I'm going to be fine, you mustn't worry about me'.

"I tried absolutely everything I could to stop Lucie going to Japan, and it was as if she was meant to go there."

She said Lucie had remained in constant touch through email and telephone calls to put her mind at rest.

But when the phone call came, from a Japanese journalist at 0300 BST, she said she knew her "biggest fear" had come true.

"I just had felt uneasy all the time and when I got this phone call I just thought: 'I knew this was going to happen'."

Japanese businessman Joji Obara denies rape and assault leading to Lucie's death.

Remains found

She disappeared from Tokyo on 1 July 2000 after telling a friend she was going for a drive to the ocean with a male client.

She 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.

Police found her dismembered remains on 8 February 2001 in a cave on a beach at Miura, at the mouth of Tokyo Bay.

Although a series of trials involving Mr Obara is due to start on Thursday, it is not thought that Lucie's case will be heard until next year.