What happened to Libby Squire is the subject of new Sky Crime documentary, Libby Are You Home Yet?
Libby’s name and smiling face hit headlines in February 2019, after the student went missing – feared abducted – following a night out.
Tragically, Libby’s body was found some six weeks later and, following a huge manhunt, her killer was caught.
This series looks at the exhaustive investigation that followed Libby’s disappearance with contributions from Libby’s family, friends and the police.
Exactly what happened to Libby Squire?
What happened to Libby Squire?
Libby Squire was a 21-year-old student at Hull University who went missing on January 31, 2019 and now she’s the focus of the new Sky documentary Libby Are You Home Yet?
Libby was last seen taking a taxi that night and witnesses reported that she seemed uneasy on her feet and was “falling over drunk”.
At 12.30am on February 1, a woman living close to where Libby went missing also claimed that she heard “blood-curdling screams”.
But what exactly happened?
After Libby got out of the taxi, outside her house in Wellesley Avenue, she was later seen walking to a bench on Beverley Road on CCTV.
At this point, father-of-two Relowicz was lurking in the shadows ready to pounce on the vulnerable young girl.
She was abducted and forced into Relowicz’s silver Vauxhall Astra, where he took her to a playing field and killed her.
Libby Squire’s friend Millie reported her missing
Libby shared a flat with a girl named Millie, while studying at Uni, and the pair ended up becoming best mates – and were together on the fateful night of her murder.
The two girls went to a nightclub together on January 31, 2019, but Libby was turned down by the bouncer as she was too drunk.
So Millie booked a taxi for her friend, which at the time she thought was a normal thing to do.
She explains in documentary Libby Are You Home Yet?, which examines what happened to Libby Squire: “To just put her in the taxi and send her home was very, very standard and very normal.”
After a couple of hours, Libby still wasn’t home yet, but her friend Millie didn’t think anything of it.
She said: “I just thought she’d gone to someone’s house, fallen asleep.
“I really thought it was very plausible that we were going to find her and that she was going to be okay.”
But eventually Millie decided that she should call the police.
Mille stated: “We’d given her an hour to turn up but she didn’t. And at that point we decided that we should call the police.”
How long was Libby Squire missing for?
Libby’s disappearance sparked the largest manhunt in Humberside police history.
Hundreds of police officers worked around the clock, carrying out large-scale searches and door-to-door enquiries to try and find answers.
At the time, Detective Superintendent Martin Smalley said: “Specially trained officers continue in supporting Libby’s family and we will do all we can to provide further support and assistance to them in any way we are able to.
“Libby captured the hearts of not just the people in Hull, but across the country. And as I have said before, the support shown has been overwhelming and my sincerest thanks to everyone who has been involved. ”
Libby was eventually discovered six weeks later on March 20 2019.
Her body was found in the Humber Estuary by a fishing boat, with a gold necklace with the letter L still around her neck.
Libby’s friends felt blamed for her disappearance
Libby’s friends Millie and Ryan, who were with the Uni student on the night of her disappearance, received a lot of backlash online.
In the documentary they reveal that lots of people were pointing the finger of blame at them, for leaving her out on her own when she was drunk.
Millie said: “I was talking about her in the taxi and the taxi driver turned round and told me that it was my fault that she was missing.
“And it was that kind of consistent blame pushing onto us as her friends.”
People were also convinced that Libby’s friend Ryan had something to do with Libby’s disappearance.
Millie explained: “Ryan received a lot of public scrutiny in terms of people deciding that he was the one that had done something.”
Ryan also added: “You’re already feeling guilty yourself and then that’s just sort of like twisting the knife in your gut a little bit.”
Libby Are You Home Yet? on Sky: Who was Pawel Relowicz?
On October 24, Pawel Relowicz was charged with the rape and murder of Libby.
Relowicz is a married father-of-two who worked as a butcher in Malton, North Yorkshire.
Relowicz had managed to carve a life out for himself in Hull after taking the bold decision to move to a new country while still a teenager.
He grew up in Warszewice in North Poland, but he moved to the UK in 2012 when he was 18 years old.
He married his wife Jagoda in 2014 and the pair had two sons together.
Prior to Libby’s disappearance, Relowicz was already convicted of nine sexual offences that were carried out between July 2017 and 20 January 2019.
Relowicz would often patrol the streets around Newland Avenue and prey on young girls in their homes.
He was even caught watching them through their bedroom windows while exposing himself.
CCTV later showed Libby travelling in Relowicz’s car to Oak Road playing fields on the night of her disappearance.
Five days later, Relowicz was arrested on suspicion of abduction.
He was also caught “laughing and smirking” when he was interviewed by detectives after Libby’s body was recovered.
Eventually, Relowicz confessed to the court that he was “looking for a woman to have easy sex” on the night that Libby Squire was murdered.
Relowicz was jailed in February last year with a minimum term of 27 years.
The sentence was later referred to the Attorney General office but deemed not to be unduly lenient.
What have Libby Squire’s parents said about the killer?
Libby’s parents Lisa and Russ Squire, were left devastated after they found out about their daughter’s death.
The parents both attended Relowicz’s four-week trial, hearing in full detail the events of their daughter’s murder.
After Relowicz was sentenced to 27 years, Libby’s mother opened up about her thoughts on the trial.
She said: “As a family, toady’s verdict changes nothing for us.
“There is no closure. We don’t get our Libby back. Our lives don’t revert back to normal.
“Libby will always be with us and we are all so proud of our beautiful, caring, wonderful girl.
“And although she has been physically taken from us, the memories we have and the love we share will never be taken.”
Lisa has said that she wants to meet Libby’s killer Pawel Relowicz to find out details pf her daughter’s final moments.
Libby Squire’s sister suffered spiking ordeal
Libby’s younger sister, Beth, was spiked on a night out last year.
Beth phoned home at around 3am and, to her mother’s horror, she was drunk and had lost the person that she was with.
Lisa Squire told the BBC at the time: “She had lost the person she was with, she was almost incoherent, and I was really worried about her.
“It took me three or four times to get through to her to get an Uber so she could be taken home.”
Hours later, Beth called her mother, who is a nurse, again and said that she had little recollection of what had happened.
Beth also sent her a photo that revealed a large bruise on her arm.
Lisa said: “She sent me a photo later that day and she had a large bruise on her arm with what looks like a puncture mark in the centre.
“I took that photo to work and showed some of my medical friends and they agreed, so I think there’s every chance she was spiked that night.”
Libby bravely overcame mental health issues
While Libby was at school, she started to struggle with her mental health.
Lisa Squire reveals in the Sky Crime doc: “By the end of Yr 8, she had started a very dark path with her mental health.
“She was very tearful, she spent a lot of time in her room, she was showing signs of depression. She was suicidal as well and I lived in fear. Absolute fear.”
But Libby started to work on her mental health and got herself in a good place before she left for university.
Her friend Rachel said: “The transformation that she went through, she was a different woman. She was so happy and the most positive version of herself probably since primary.”
Libby Are You Home Yet? starts on Thursday, October 27 on Sky Crime and Now.
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