Mr Olner said Miss Hawker's parents needed support

The body of Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, was found in a bathtub filled with sand on the balcony of a Tokyo apartment.

Nuneaton Labour MP Bill Olner asked Mr Blair to intervene during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons.

The prime minister was urged to ask the Japanese Prime Minister to invite British police to join in the search.

Mr Blair said: "I... understand that the Japanese authorities certainly are treating this as a major case with something like 100 police officers working on it.

"However, I will reflect carefully on what he is saying in relation both to the Japanese prime minister and in respect of any help that the British police can give and I will come back to him on it."

Severe injuries

Post-mortem test results suggested Lindsay, who was a student at Leeds University, was strangled or asphyxiated.

She had also suffered severe injuries to her face and arms.

Mr Olner said having British police in Japan would "provide a very, very good link back to Mr and Mrs Hawker, who do need some essential support".

Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, who lived at the apartment where the body was found in March, is suspected of killing Miss Hawker, from Brandon.

Mr Ichihashi has not been seen since he fled from his apartment when police went there to question him.