Polish butcher tells murder trial he ‘only wanted to help’ Hull student Libby Squire
Polish butcher ‘only wanted to help’ a ‘drunk, hypothermic, lost girl’ and did not rape and kill 21-year-old student Libby Squire, jury hears
- Pawel Relowicz, 26, claims he had consensual sex with student Libby Squire, 21
- Polish butcher is accused of raping and murdering the Hull philosophy student
- Relowicz says he ‘wanted to help,’ Libby, who he found drunk and distressed
- Her body was pulled from the Humber estuary near the River Hull in March 2019
A Polish butcher has claimed he ‘only wanted to help,’ 21-year-old Libby Squire as she was a ‘drunk, hypothermic lost girl,’ and denied raping and killing the student, a court has heard today.
Pawel Relowicz, 26, told Sheffield Crown Court that he had consensual sex with Libby Squire on the evening she disappeared, but said she was not ‘a target’ for him to have ‘easy sex’.
Yesterday Relowicz told the court Libby was so drunk she could barely stand, but was adamant he did not physically force her into his car, while accepting that he had to put her seatbelt on for her.
Polish-born Relowicz denies raping and murdering 21-year-old Ms Squire in Hull, East Yorkshire, on February 1, 2019.
Libby Squire’s body was found in the Humber estuary in March 2019. It is alleged that Pawel Relowicz, 26, raped and murdered the University of Hull philosophy student, before dumping her body in a river
Speaking through an interpreter, Relowicz, of Raglan Street, Hull, has told the court that he was ‘looking for a woman to have easy sex’ on the night of January 31, but said he just wanted to help Ms Squire, who he found drunk and distressed in the street after being refused entry to a nightclub.
In cross-examination on Tuesday, Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, asked the defendant: ‘And though you told us yesterday that you were looking for easy sex, this drunk, hypothermic, lost girl was not the easy sex you were looking for?’
Relowicz, who worked as a butcher at Karro Foods, in Malton, North Yorkshire, replied: ‘She wanted my help and I only wanted to help her.’
Mr Wright said: ‘From the very moment you saw her, she became a target for the easy sex you told the jury you were looking for that night, didn’t she?’
The defendant answered: ‘She was not a target for me.’
Polish-born butcher Relowicz, a married father-of-two, told a court he was trying to help Miss Squire, 21, who he found drunk and distressed in the street after being refused entry to a nightclub
Relowicz has told the jury that he offered University of Hull philosophy student Ms Squire a lift home, but stopped the car near Oak Road playing fields when he thought she was going to be sick.
The married father-of-two said she asked for a hug and they ended up kissing before having sex on the ground near his car.
The defendant said she tried to kiss him again but he turned away and she scratched his face.
He told the court that he then drove away and saw her behind his car shouting at him not to leave her.
Mr Wright asked Relowicz why he did not tell this to the police when he was arrested five days after Ms Squire, who is originally from High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, disappeared.
He said: ‘It was not a deliberate decision. I had two children and a wife and I didn’t want her to find out I had cheated on her.
‘I didn’t do anything to Libby. I didn’t kill her, I didn’t rape her and I left her where I said I left her.’
Relowicz denies throwing Miss Squire’s body in the river, instead claiming that he left her by Oak Road playing fields shortly after they shared a kiss
CCTV footage shows Libby Squire on her way to the Welly Nightclub, which she was later turned away from
The jury had previously heard that the suspect had broken into homes and stolen sex toys and women’s underwear.
The prosecution has told the jury that Relowicz picked up Ms Squire while he was ‘prowling around the student area’ looking for an opportunity to commit a sexual offence against a vulnerable young woman.
The court has heard that he drove her to Oak Road playing fields, where he raped and murdered her before putting into the River Hull.
Her body was recovered about seven weeks later in the Humber estuary.
Yesterday Oliver Saxby, defending, told the court about Relowicz’ previous offences.
Mr Saxby told the jury: ‘To say he has a problem barely scratches the surface.
‘How he has behaved, what he has done – it is utterly disgusting.’
But he said there was no evidence that Relowicz had killed Libby.
Sheffield Crown Court has been told he picked up Ms Squire, who was drunk and distressed after she had been turned away from a nightclub, while he was ‘prowling around the student area’ looking for an opportunity to commit a sexual offence against a vulnerable young woman.
Mr Saxby said: ‘Let me spell it out: He has violated homes, he has violated the intimate possessions of student girls, he has violated intimate moments and he has expressed his enjoyment at all of this by masturbating at the time, and elsewhere – including in public places.
‘It is, I repeat, disgusting.
Yesterday a jury was told that after the police arrested the Relowicz, they found sex toys and women’s underwear that he had stolen after breaking into students’ homes
‘What he did I don’t doubt will have been extremely frightening.
‘And you will hate him for it. That’s the reality, being frank. Why wouldn’t you?’
Mr Saxby said the defendant found it difficult to accept he had a problem and had lied to his wife, and to himself.
‘Why? Because his behaviour is so gross; and, perhaps, we would say, because – in the context of this case – he feared that if he admitted it, it would count against him,’ Mr Saxby said.
The trial continues.
