Libby Squire's mother urges police to listen to women

The mother of a woman murdered on a night out in Hull has said police need to "listen and believe" women who report sexual offences.

Lisa Squire's 21-year-old daughter Libby was abducted and killed in the city in 2019.

Pawel Relowicz, a Polish butcher, was convicted of raping and murdering the student, originally from High Wycombe, and jailed for life in 2021.

Mrs Squire has been urging women to report low level sexual offences.

She has also campaigned for tougher sentences for men convicted of non-contact sexual offences, such as upskirting and voyeurism, and earlier intervention in treatment for such offenders.

Relowicz had previous convictions for voyeurism, performing sex acts in public and stealing underwear from women's homes and was later linked through DNA to several unsolved non-contact sexual offences.

Speaking to the BBC, while visiting Hull for a Women in Business event, Mrs Squire said she hoped improved safety for women and girls would be her daughter's legacy.

"That's what she would have wanted," she said.

She said while in her daughter's case the police had been "exemplary" that was not always the case.

"The police need to listen to women, they need to believe women and they need to investigate the cases as far as they can.

"Any woman who is a victim of a rape her case needs to be heard quickly it is no good waiting two or three years to get to court."

Mrs Squire's comments come as the Home Affairs Select Committee publishes a report on police priorities.

The committee's chair Dame Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, said work was needed to increase women's confidence in the police, especially in cases of non-contact sexual offences.

"Women don't feel they can tell the police because nothing will happen or they will be laughed at.

"What we know in Hull it is really important that those kind of cases are reported so that the police can see if there is a pattern or there is someone they need to be watching out for," she said.

She said she hoped the committee could look further at some of the issues Mrs Squire had raised in her campaign with regard to non-contact sexual offences.

Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]