The Sevenoaks Chronicle has launched a fund to help the family of missing Lucie Blackman search for her.

The paper has worked closely with the family since her disappearance on July 1 in Japan.

Editor Roger Perkins was interviewed in front of the cameras for TV Asahi as part of an evening news broadcast.

And Lucie’s mother gave the Chronicle an exclusive interview on the family’s anguish and hopes for the future.

The appeal cash will provide the Blackman family with the financial assistance needed to fund the search.

Her mum Jane has had to put her life on hold since Lucie vanished and has been unable to work. Lucie’s sister Sophie, a cardiac technician, has pledged to stay in Japan until she is found.

Over £500 was raised in the first few days of the appeal.

John Stevens, manager at Sevenoaks’ HSBC bank and trustee of the fund, told readers that the response had been fantastic. His bank has donated a further £100.

The money will help the family’s expenses, such as massive Internet and phone bills, as well as living costs and travel and accommodation. Cash will also be set aside for any rehabilitation needed when Lucie is found.

There is speculation among the Japanese media that The Mob may have been involved. Japanese organised crime mafia controls many of the bars where Lucie would have been working.

There is also the possibility she has been taken by a cult because of a phone call to her friend soon after she vanished.

There was a moment of hope in the search recently when a letter, supposedly from Lucie, was delivered to the Tokyo police, but her father, Tim, who is in Japan to help with the hunt for his daughter, is convinced it is a fake.

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