A 54-year-old Japanese businessman has been acquitted of raping and killing Kent bar hostess Lucie Blackman.

But Joji Obara has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping nine other women, including Australian Carita Ridgway who died.

Miss Blackman, 21, from Sevenoaks, was working in a Tokyo bar when she disappeared in July 2000. The dismembered body of the former air hostess were found in a cave near Obara's home in the village of Miura in February 2001.

The judge said there was no proof Obara alone was responsible for her death.

Miss Blackman's father, Tim Blackman, and her sister Sophie, were in court to hear the verdict.

Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said: "There is nothing to prove that [Obara] was involved in the rape and her death. The court cannot prove he was single-handedly involved in her death."

The judge said it was clear the victim and the accused were together before she vanished and then died but he said this was not enough to secure a conviction.

After the verdict, Mr Blackman told the BBC he felt his daughter had been "robbed of justice" and said prosecutors should "strongly consider" an appeal.

Last year Mr Blackman accepted 100 million yen (£450,000) from a friend of Obara, but he denied it was "blood money" and said such "offers of condolence" were common in Japan and did not affect the court case.