On July 1, 2020, a 21-year-old British national who was living in Japan vanished mysteriously, leaving not just these two countries but the entire world perplexed. After all, there were practically no signs of her anywhere until authorities actually connected a serial rapist to the case, as was detailed in the aptly named Netflix original “Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case.” But for now, if you just want to know more about her father, Timothy “Tim” Blackman, who has consistently called for justice for this child, we have the information for you.
Who is Tim Blackman?
Tim’s life apparently flipped upside down on September 1, 1978, when he became a father for the first time by welcome Lucie Blackman into the world. He lived in Sevenoaks, Kent. Although Sophie Blackman and Rupert Blackman proudly followed her in the subsequent years, the truth is that she remained her parents’ miracle even after they ended their marriage in 1995. The very stylish but honest father of three said, “[Lucie had] completely transformed our lives,” in the original performance. She held a special place in the family. She had a great sense of humour.
She had an impact on a lot of individuals around her, Tim continued. Everyone who knew her as a young child seemed to revolve around her radiance, as if she were the centre of attention. It should therefore come as no surprise that she received support, love, and care from almost every family member after she decided to become an air hostess in order to fulfil her aspirations of seeing the world. This is due to the fact that no one could have predicted her 90-day vacation to Asia in the summer of 2000 with a close friend would end up being her last as she would vanish from this world on July 1.
Tim stated, “I received a phone call to inform me that my daughter had gone missing. I was sitting in the garden at home at the time. “Well, there must be some reasonable explanation,” I thought at away. But as the days went by and Lucie didn’t phone or text anyone, he went into a “complete blind panic” and realised he had to find a way to win her back. So he took off for Tokyo, Japan, where he promptly went to the police before addressing the media to make a plea for any pertinent information regarding the whereabouts of his young daughter.
Tim actually kept talking to the media for months while also communicating often with the Metropolitan Police, which led some people to speculate that he might be a bit of a “attention seeker.” However, the reality is that he had only just realised that giving interviews would be the greatest approach to keep Lucie’s name in the public eye and so raise pressure to successfully resolve her situation. The father in the movie said, “Any worries you might have about, um, not having experience talking to a camera or something, you just get on with it because you’re trying to find your child.”
Furthermore, and maybe more importantly, Tim even established a special hotline in Japan and made public an enormous financial reward for any information leading to the discovery of his daughter, but to no avail. Despite rumours that she was a runaway or that a cult was probably involved, Lucie’s hopeful father continued to hold out hope that she was still alive up until her icy, dismembered remains were discovered in February 2001. Tim said in the original production, “I remember exactly where I was [when I got the call].” “I was positioned in a side street. It was a cloudy day… I basically just stood there and yelled in the street.
Where is Tim Blackman Now?
Tim, her mother Jane Steare, and other family members made sure to attend Joji Obara’s 2007 trial because it was rumoured that Lucie had died while being sexually assaulted on a date by the formerly affluent real estate billionaire. But alas, everything came to an end with his acquittal in relation to her death despite the fact that he was also found guilty of Carita Ridgway’s murder in 1992 as well as eight separate sexual assault cases. It’s important to note that information about these additional cases was only discovered as a result of the investigation into Lucie’s abrupt disappearance. As a result, even though Lucie’s family was disappointed in the court’s decision overall, they were relieved to learn that Lucie’s life was not lost in vain.
Nevertheless, the Blackmans appealed the decision the next year, and on December 16, 2008, Joji was judged accountable for dismembering and leaving the British national behind. The serial predator was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole as a result of all these offences, providing Lucie’s family with the much-needed closure in more ways than one.
According to Tim, “We’d done what we needed to do” in the documentary. “…Lucie has somehow given us a taste of life, despite how horrifying and monstrous it has been. In my heart and spirit, Lucie has left me with something resembling a legacy. Because I have kept the rest of it out of Lucie’s memory, those sensations are quite pure and untarnished by resentment and rage.
Nevertheless, Tim’s thoughts have remained clouded by the loss of Lucie’s shining, innocent existence, especially after he realises how it has impacted his other two kids. Young Sophie apparently made an attempt on her life in 2005, shortly after her sister’s ashes were interred in their hometown, because she was unable to handle the terrible, never-ending pain. By the time 2006 rolled around, she was “receiving in-patient care at a psychiatric unit” while her brother Rupert was also “tortured and damaged” by the entire protracted affair.
But from what we can tell, the brothers and sisters have now been able to put the past behind them; while Sophie seems to have found love, Rupert is today a musician based in the Netherlands. Furthermore, it appears that Tim is currently just attempting to live a happy life on the Isle of Wight with his second wife Josephine while paying tribute to the memory of his lost daughter. He reportedly did so because he intended to spend the majority of the 100 million Japanese Yen sent to him by Joji’s partner in 2007 as “atonement” money to create a trust in Lucie’s name. This Lucie Blackman Trust was established, and it has its own website.
