'I don't hate him': Libby Squire's mum prepares to meet daughter's killer in prison
27 October 2022, 09:17 | Updated: 27 October 2022, 09:35
The mum of a university student who was brutally raped and murdered after a night out is to meet the sexual predator who killed her.
Libby Squire, 21, was abducted and killed by Polish butcher Pawel Relowicz, 26, after becoming separated from her friends in Hull in 2019.
Her body was pulled out of the Humber Estuary seven weeks later, and had been submerged for so long that pathologists couldn't say how she died.
How she died is one of the "biggest questions" her mother Lisa Squire has, and could finally get some answers when she meets Relowicz in prison.
"For me, it's more about being in the same space as the last person who was with my daughter," the neo-natal nurse told the BBC.
"I know most of her friends and she was always in contact with me so I know what she was doing in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. I do not know what happened on that last day of her life."
Father-of-two Relowicz refused to own up to his crimes but in February 2021 he was convicted of murdering and raping Libby.
Now Mrs Squire is preparing to meet him in jail in a visit arranged through a restorative justice charity, and she's already shown a surprising level of compassion.
"He has committed the worst offences imaginable and the prospect of seeing the mother of the person he killed must be quite difficult, she said.
"He may be a bit nervous. It's quite a brave thing for him to do. I don't hate him, I really don't. I find anger and hatred incredibly draining, so I choose not to go down that route."
Libby, a second year philosophy student, was on a night out with friends in January 2019 when she was refused entry to a nightclub because bouncers thought she was too drunk.
Her friends put her in a taxi and paid the driver to take her home, but after she was dropped off she wandered off.
It was a cold and snowy night, and she started experiencing hypothermia, and was crying and disorientated when Relowicz preyed on her.
READ MORE: Libby Squire's mum: 'If you take a life, you should spend life in prison'
During Relowicz's 14-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court, jurors heard how he had previous convictions for voyeurism, performing sex acts in public and stealing sex toys and underwear from women's homes.
He insisted he had consensual sex with Libby and said he lied after being arrested because he did not want his wife to discover he'd cheated.
Relowicz is shown laughing as he was told why he was being arrested in a new Sky Crime documentary - Libby, Are You Home Yet?.
The three-part series looks at whether he could have been stopped earlier by police considering his string of previous sexual crimes.
Mrs Squire told Sky News she believes Relowicz will kill again if he is released from prison at the end of his 27-year sentence.
"There is not a question of doubt in my mind that if he only gets to serve 27 years, he will come out and do it again, because he will only be in his early 50s," she said.
"He shows no remorse now and I don't believe in 20 years' time he'll show any remorse. "He will come out and do it again. I'm absolutely convinced of it."
