Police received information that a man who looks like the fugitive suspect in the 2007 murder of a British woman had cosmetic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture last month, investigative sources said Wednesday.

The police later concluded that the man seen in Nagoya was definitely Tatsuya Ichihashi, 30, who is wanted in connection with the murder of Lindsay Hawker, 22, a language teacher, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture.

The Chiba police will soon publicize a photo of Ichihashi after the surgery that the sources said made him look very different from how he looks in the photo that has been released by the police as the suspect in the Hawker case.

The police have dispatched investigators to Aichi to assess the first detailed information on the suspect who has been on the run since March 2007.

Ichihashi went missing after fleeing from police officers on March 26, 2007 at his apartment, where Hawker's body was found in a sand-filled bathtub.

William Hawker, the victim's father, said in a statement that the family has never given up hope that Ichihashi will be caught, but expressed dissatisfaction that he has not got any official confirmation from the police about the latest report. He also said that "two years of freedom" for the suspect is "too long."

"Who is hiding him? Which hospitals or clinics carried out the work and why would they operate on a man who is allegedly the most wanted man in Japan?" the statement said, adding the family want to know "the facts, not just rumors."

Hawker's relatives have visited Japan several times, hoping to resolve the case, while the National Police Agency raised the cash reward for information leading to Ichihashi's arrest from 1 million to 10 million yen in June this year.