Butcher accused of rape and murder of Libby Squire goes on trial

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Stacey Foster

A 26-year-old man raped and murdered a “drunk and vulnerable” student before throwing her body into a river, a court has heard.

Pawel Relowicz had come across Libby Squire, who was “drunk”, “likely hypothermic” and “in deep distress”, on a road in Hull and drove her away from safety to a remote playing field, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Ms Squire’s body was recovered by a lifeboat around seven weeks later after being spotted in the Humber Estuary by the skipper of a fishing boat.

Relowicz denies raping and murdering Ms Squire.

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Pawel Relowicz (2nd right) Credit: PA

Richard Wright QC, opening the case for the prosecution, said Ms Squire had “seemingly disappeared” on the freezing cold night of January 31 2019 after being refused entry to a nightclub.

He said: “She was drunk, she was likely hypothermic, and she was in deep distress.

“She had lost her house keys, she was crying, she had fallen repeatedly to the floor as she tried to walk and she was extremely vulnerable.”

Mr Wright told the jury that some “good citizens” tried to help Ms Squire, but she became agitated and they left her by the roadside.

Mr Wright said Relowicz lived with his family in a residential street a short distance from Libby’s home.

File court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook dated 30/10/19 of of Pawel Relowicz. Credit: PA

Mr Wright told the court that Relowicz drove Ms Squire to nearby playing fields at Oak Road – a “remote spot” that he was familiar with and chose “so that he would not be disturbed”.

He said: “At Oak Road, having exited his vehicle, we say that Pawel Relowicz raped Libby and that he killed her, causing her death during that act of sexual violence, which culminated in his putting her, dead or dying, into the cold waters of the River Hull that bordered the edge of that playing field.

“It was from there that Libby’s body travelled into the Humber and then out to sea to be recovered by the lifeboat on March 20.”

Mr Wright told the court that the defendant, who is is originally from Poland, was living with his wife and two children in Raglan Street, Hull.

He worked as a butcher at Karro Foods, in Malton, North Yorkshire, he said.