 On
July 2nd 2000, I received a telephone call from my daughter
Sophie, to say that my eldest daughter Lucie had gone missing
in Tokyo. There followed the most traumatic nine months of my
life while Japanese Police tried to find her.
Sophie and I made numerous trips to Tokyo which were covered
extensively on Television and in Newspapers. Eventually she
was found dead in an isolated cave. Her body had been dismembered
so that her killer could dispose of her. Being involved in
the real life drama of searching for Lucie, it became apparent
how desperate it is when there’s not enough information
to help find missing people. We thought Lucie was alive and
being kept hostage, how wrong we were!
Now we know the whole story, I can look back on the events
in detail and see what went wrong on Lucie’s day out
to the coast. On the 1st of July, she was picked up by her
date in his sports car, to go to the coast. She told her roommate
that she was going to the seaside but she was unclear whom
my daughter was with. After a couple of hours Lucie made contact
to say what time she wanted to be home. It soon became apparent
she wouldn’t make that deadline due the distance she
was from Tokyo. She rang her friend again who was just leaving
for work - this was the last time anyone heard from her.
A Japanese man is currently on trial over Lucie’s death
which is why I can’t go into detail but a witness stated
she saw Lucie, and she appeared to be distressed and not happy
to be where she was. You can only conclude that the day’s
events were now out of her control.
In the aftermath of Lucie’s death, I have become very
much more aware of how often terrible things happen to children
and adults alike and felt I wanted to do something - for Lucie
- which would really make a  difference.
I have worked with Dave Russell, an ITV journalist who has
travelled three times to Tokyo to cover the events, to develop
this simple but thorough system which is SafetyText. An event
like this is just unbelievable - and the worst of all nightmares.
But it happens to little children and grown adults alike -
and indeed the variation of these events seems endless. Lucie
has inspired SafetyText which is for your protection, and
that of your children. As I have unfortunately discovered,
you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Tim Blackman, Lucie’s father.
We
welcome partners and information that will support work in
this area.
To contact The Lucie Blackman Trust telephone 01983 566083
or
07887893951.
© Copyright 2005: Lucie Blackman Trust
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