Libby Squire
Libby Squire was 21 and studying philosophy at the University of Hull. On the night of January 31, 2019, she had been out with friends in Hull. She was later seen alone and in distress in the Beverley Road area during freezing weather.
Her disappearance triggered a large police and public search. The case later became a murder investigation after her body was found in the Humber Estuary. Because of the time her body had been in the water, pathologists were unable to determine the precise medical mechanism of death. That uncertainty did not prevent a jury from determining criminal responsibility from the wider evidence.
The disappearance and search
During the early hours of February 1, Libby was last seen in an area where Pawel Relowicz was driving. Investigators later assembled CCTV, vehicle movements, forensic material and evidence about Relowicz's behavior before and after the disappearance.
Relowicz was arrested within days in connection with other matters and came under increasing scrutiny in the search for Libby. On March 20, fishermen found a woman's body in the Humber Estuary near Grimsby. It was identified as Libby the following day.
The prosecution
Relowicz was charged with Libby's rape and murder in October 2019. At trial, he denied both offenses and claimed sexual contact had been consensual. The jury rejected that account.
The prosecution relied heavily on circumstantial and forensic evidence. It was not necessary for jurors to know the exact physiological cause of death in order to decide whether Relowicz had raped and murdered Libby. The distinction matters: an undetermined medical mechanism is not the same thing as an undetermined perpetrator.
Verdicts
On February 11, 2021, after a four-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court, Relowicz was found guilty of rape and murder. The rape verdict was unanimous; the murder verdict was reached by a majority of 11 to one.
The court also knew that Relowicz had previously committed a series of sexual and voyeuristic offenses. Those earlier convictions formed part of the sentencing context, but this dossier does not use them to inflate the number of crimes attributed to the Libby Squire case.
Life sentence
On February 12, 2021, Mrs Justice Lambert sentenced Relowicz to life imprisonment for murder, with a minimum term of 27 years before he can first be considered for parole. A concurrent sentence was imposed for rape.
A life sentence does not expire when the minimum term ends. The 27 years marks the earliest point at which release may be considered; release is not automatic and the life licence continues if a prisoner is eventually released.
Review of the sentence
The 27-year minimum term was referred to the Attorney General's Office under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. In March 2021, the Solicitor General concluded that the high legal threshold for referring the sentence to the Court of Appeal was not met. The 27-year minimum term therefore remained unchanged.
Timeline
January 31–February 1, 2019: Libby Squire disappears after a night out in Hull.
February 2019: investigators search extensively and focus on Pawel Relowicz as evidence develops.
March 20–21, 2019: Libby's body is recovered from the Humber Estuary and formally identified.
October 2019: Relowicz is charged with rape and murder.
February 11, 2021: a Sheffield Crown Court jury convicts him of both offenses.
February 12, 2021: he receives life imprisonment with a 27-year minimum term.
March 2021: the Solicitor General decides the sentence does not meet the threshold for an unduly-lenient-sentence referral.
Current classification
The Murder of Libby Squire is classified Solved / Adjudicated. Pawel Relowicz was convicted by a jury of both rape and murder and remains subject to a life sentence with a 27-year minimum term.