On a cold night in late January 2019, Libby Squire vanished from the streets of Hull. The 21-year-old philosophy student had gone out with friends on the night of the 31st, despite having a lecture scheduled the next morning. She had not been keen on the outing, but she agreed not to disappoint her friends. Before the night was over, she had sent her boyfriend a final message around 10:30 p.
m. and had been turned away from a nightclub because she appeared too intoxicated. Concerned for her safety, her friends arranged a taxi to take her home. The driver dropped her off outside her shared accommodation on Wellesley Avenue just before midnight.
She never went inside. Instead, witnesses later saw her sitting alone on a nearby bench, crying and visibly distressed. A concerned couple offered help, but she declined and slowly walked away into the darkness. That was the last time anyone who knew her would see her alive.
Libby Squire had only recently moved to Hull to study philosophy. Raised in the Buckinghamshire village of West Wycombe, she was the eldest of four children and had a close bond with her mother, Lisa, a neonatal nurse. She had taken a gap year, traveled to Paris, and began her degree in September 2017. Friends remembered her for her warmth, humor, and creative energy.
Her future appeared full of promise. None of that would matter after the early hours of 1st February 2019. In the hours after she was dropped off, a silver Vauxhall Astra was captured on CCTV slowly cruising the streets of Hull. The driver was Pawel Relowicz, a 27-year-old Polish-born butcher who lived with his wife and two children on Raglyn Street, not far from where Libby lived.
To the outside world, Relowicz appeared to be an ordinary, dependable family man. Neighbors described him as friendly and helpful, often seen doing chores, playing with his children, or searching the beach with a metal detector. That image concealed something far darker. For years, Relowicz had been living a double life.
While his wife believed he was out jogging, he roamed Hull under the cover of darkness, peering into windows and watching women in private moments. Some of his victims were students who reported a man at their ground-floor windows in the early hours. He also stole underwear and personal belongings from student homes. These behaviors had been reported to police on several occasions, but none of them had resulted in formal charges.
By 2019, the pattern had been escalating, and no one had stopped him. On the night of 31st January, CCTV showed Relowicz spotting Libby, alone and vulnerable, and pulling over. He got out of his car and approached her. They spoke briefly, and Libby got into the vehicle willingly.
It is possible she believed he was offering help or a way home. Instead, he drove her to Oak Road Playing Field, a dark and isolated location not far from her house. There, in the seclusion of the field, he assaulted her. The precise circumstances of her death remain uncertain.
Experts could not determine exactly when or how she died, but the evidence established a sequence of events that ended her life. After the assault, Relowicz dragged Libby to the banks of the River Hull and pushed her into the freezing water. Whether she was conscious or already unresponsive is unknown. He then left her there in the darkness.
Her body would not be found for almost seven weeks. Minutes later, CCTV captured Relowicz walking back to his home with no visible sign of distress. To anyone watching, he looked like a man returning from a late night. He had just committed an act that would devastate a family and shock the nation.
Libby’s disappearance became a major missing-person case. The search was massive, involving police, marine units, drones, and student volunteers who combed parks and waterways throughout Hull. The case drew national attention, especially because another student, Richard Williams, had vanished in Reading only days earlier. Investigators gathered CCTV footage and conducted door-to-door inquiries.
A significant clue emerged when Libby’s house keys were found discarded in a neighbor’s garden, confirming that she had never entered her accommodation. Relowicz was not initially on the police radar. But as detectives worked through hours of CCTV, a silver Vauxhall Astra kept appearing in the area. The footage captured Libby climbing into the vehicle shortly after midnight.
The car was registered to Relowicz. Investigators also reviewed his movements before and after the pickup, which suggested he had been patrolling the area, possibly searching for someone to target. Forensic teams then scoured Oak Road Playing Field. There they recovered a used condom, and DNA analysis matched Relowicz.
Automatic number plate recognition technology confirmed his car had been logged in the area at the time Libby went missing. As the investigation progressed, more details emerged. Several students came forward with memories of a man matching Relowicz’s description watching them through windows, following them at night, or entering their homes when they were not there. Incidents that had once been dismissed were now recognized as part of a deliberate pattern of predatory behavior.
On 6th February 2019, police arrested Relowicz, not for Libby’s case, but for a string of earlier sexual offenses, including voyeurism, public indecency, and burglary. A search of his home uncovered a pink holdall containing women’s underwear, sex toys, and photographs of young women, items believed stolen from student homes. The evidence painted a clear picture of a man hiding serious criminal behavior behind the mask of ordinary family life. At that stage, he was charged only with those earlier offenses, but detectives kept him under close watch while the search for Libby continued.
That search ended on 20th March 2019, when a fisherman spotted a body floating in the Humber Estuary. It was confirmed to be Libby Squire. She had been missing for seven weeks. With the discovery of her body, the evidence came together: the CCTV footage, the forensic DNA, the eyewitness accounts, and Relowicz’s documented history of predatory behavior.
In August 2019, Relowicz was arrested again, this time in direct connection with Libby’s death. He was formally charged with assault and murder, accusations he denied. Legal proceedings continued through 2020 as the case prepared for trial, while Relowicz remained in custody. The trial began in January 2021 at Sheffield Crown Court and attracted nationwide attention.
After weeks of testimony and forensic revelations, the jury returned its verdict on 11th February 2021. Relowicz was found guilty by a majority verdict of murder and unanimously guilty of assault. During sentencing, the judge delivered a scathing assessment of his actions. She stated that Relowicz had targeted a stranger, Libby, when she was at her most vulnerable, intoxicated, disoriented, and alone.
He had lured her to a secluded location, assaulted her, and then abandoned her with no chance of survival. The judge described his actions as predatory and sexually driven. She handed him a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years before he could be considered for release. The conviction ended a painful chapter for Libby’s family and the city of Hull.
It also prompted a broader national conversation about the safety of women and the vulnerabilities too many still face. Libby’s case became more than a tragic headline. It fueled discussions about how society can do better to protect those at risk. Her memory has inspired efforts to create safer public spaces, improve support for victims, and hold authorities to higher standards.
Though her life was cut short, the impact of her story continues to be felt far beyond the city where she died.