Libby Squire: Pawel Relowicz jailed for student's murder

A serial sex offender who raped and murdered a student before dumping her body in a river has been jailed for at least 27 years.

Pawel Relowicz, 26, prowled the streets of Hull before attacking "vulnerable" 21-year-old Libby Squire.

During sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court, Ms Squire's parents Lisa and Russ gave emotional statements about the loss of their daughter.

Mrs Justice Lambert praised their "quiet dignity" through the trial.

She said the family had suffered "unimaginable loss" and spoke of the "anguish" that Relowicz had condemned them to for the rest of their lives.

Addressing the court, Lisa Squire said no words could "explain the torture of living without my Libby".

"Not only have I lost my first-born child with whom I had an amazing bond, but I've also lost the possibility of being a grandmother to her children," she said.

"Knowing that in Libby's last hour of life she needed me but I wasn't there for her will haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Because of what happened that night to Libby, I now live in two worlds - one where I'm a mother, wife and employee, but then there is a dark and lonely world.

"In this world I long to die so I can be with my girl one more time."

The court also heard from Ms Squire's father Russ, who said he struggled to look at pictures of his daughter since her death.

Prosecutor Richard Wright also read a statement from Ms Squire's younger sister Beth, who said she "idolised" her older sibling and hoped to "follow in her footsteps".

Mrs Justice Lambert, sentencing, described Ms Squire as young woman with a "troubled past in many ways" who had "turned a corner in her life" and was flourishing at the University of Hull.

The philosophy student "did not stand a chance" from the moment a "malignant twist of fate" led the pair's paths to cross, she said.

Relowicz had "patrolled the student area looking for a suitable victim" and spotted Ms Squire "weaving her precarious way" around after being turned away from a nightclub.

"She had no way of protecting herself from you either physically or mentally," the judge said.

Relowicz's trial heard he drove Ms Squire to secluded playing fields, attacked her and put her body into the River Hull on 1 February 2019.

It sparked a huge search effort until her remains were spotted by a fisherman in the Humber Estuary seven weeks later.

The judge said she had no doubt Relowicz had tried to conceal Ms Squire in water in the hope "her body would be washed out to sea and never found".

Jurors heard Relowicz, who worked as a butcher, had previous convictions for a string of sexually motivated offences including voyeurism.

Referring to his "perverted campaign of sexually deviant behaviour", Mrs Justice Lambert said another judge was correct to describe him as a potentially "very dangerous individual".

She told him that prior to the murder: "Your offending escalated, you grew increasingly emboldened, no doubt you were increasingly confident you would not and could not be caught.

"You watched these women, staring back at them brazenly even after they had spotted you."

Relowicz showed no emotion as the sentence, which included a concurrent 18-year term for rape, was handed down.

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