Man accused of raping and murdering student Libby Squire, 21, says he 'felt sorry for her'

CCTV has been released of what prosecution say is the moment a butcher stalked a 21-year-old student before raping and murdering her. 

Pawel Relowicz, 26, allegedly lured Ms Squire into his car as she walking through Hull’s student area while ‘drunk and vulnerable’ after a night out. 

Footage shown at Relowicz’s trial is said to capture the moment the defendant first spotted Ms Squire as she sat on a wall alone on Beverley Road.

He then walked in the shadows in an attempt to avoid raising her suspicions, Sheffield Crown Court heard. 

The prosecution say Relowicz then ‘stalked’ Ms Squire from the opposite side of the street before ‘darting’ over to intercept her. 

He is accused of then driving Ms Squire to the Oak Road playing fields before raping and murdering her. 

According to the prosecution, the 10-minute long footage shows Relowicz ‘intercepting’ Libby after spotting her at the junction between Beverley Road and Haworth Street.

The footage starts with what is believed to be Relowicz parked in Haworth Street, before stepping out of his Vauxhall Astra at 11.55pm on January 31, 2019, and walking in the direction of Beverley Road.

At 11.57pm, a red arrow (Relowicz) and a green arrow (Libby), allegedly shows the two of them stood near each other at the bus stop at the junction with Beverley Road and Haworth Street.

It is then claimed by the prosecution that Relowicz can be seen walking away from Libby and walking across Beverley Road in the direction of Beresford Avenue.

For the next few minutes, Ms Squire can be seen wandering near to the bus stop and heading towards the nearby Endsleigh Centre.

At 11.59pm, it is claimed Relowicz can be seen emerging from the direction of Beresford Avenue and walking up Beverley Road in the direction of the Endsleigh Centre on the opposite side of the road to Libby.

Ms Squire then disappears into the grounds of the Endsleigh Centre.

At exactly midnight, the figure believed to be Relowicz then crosses Beverley Road towards the entrance to the Endsleigh Centre.

The arrows showing the whereabouts of Libby and the accused disappear, with Libby reappearing from the entrance of the Centre at 12.01pm.

Seconds later the red arrow emerges from the Centre’s entrance and moves towards Libby, with the pair waiting a second or two then walking towards the bus stop.

At 12.02pm, the CCTV appears to show them near to the bus stop, before they walk down to Haworth Street.

The footage then cuts to CCTV in Haworth Street, where the lights on what is believed to be Relowicz’s Vauxhall Astra flash.

Moments later, the prosecution say Relowicz can be seen opening the driver’s door of the vehicle. The red ring around the ankle refers to the black stripes on Relowicz’s jeans previously discussed by the prosecution.

It is claimed the defendant then sits in the driver’s seat with his legs facing to the side and out of the car, with his car door remaining open.

Ms Squire can no longer be seen.

At 12.05pm another vehicle drives down Haworth Street, and past what is said to be Relowicz, with him standing up as it drives out of view of the camera. Relowicz then moves out of view towards Beverley Road.

The CCTV angle switches again to show Haworth Street from the opposite direction at 12.06pm. A figure, believed to be Relowicz, can be seen walking near to the top of Haworth Street at the junction with Beverley Road.

Libby can then be seen walking close by to him.

This part of the footage isn’t as clear, however the prosecution say it shows the moment Libby is seen getting into Relowicz’s car. 

At 12.08pm, a headlight can be seen turning on, with the car pulling out and driving in the direction away from Beverley Road.

The CCTV footage then switches back to that in Haworth Street, and back to 12.07pm, where prosecution say Libby can be seen getting into the passenger’s side of Relowicz’s car.

The red arrow, signalling the alleged movements of the defendant, show Relowicz opening the driver’s side door and sitting in the driver’s seat. The car’s headlights are turned on, and the car drives off away from Beverley Road.     

It came as retired detective constable Claire Jackson, of Humberside Police, read a transcript of Relowicz’s first interviews after he was arrested on suspicion of the abduction of Ms Squire.

The jury of five men and seven women heard that he was arrested at his home on the evening of February 6 and was interviewed for the first time at 10.13pm that night.

Richard Woolfall, prosecuting, said Relowicz, who worked as a butcher at Karro Foods, in Malton
, North Yorkshire, was shown a picture of Ms Squire and asked if she was alive.

Ms Jackson said the defendant replied: ‘I don’t know? How am I supposed to know?’

When asked where Ms Squire was, he answered: ‘I didn’t abduct her.’

In his next interview, which took place at 1.59pm the following day, Relowicz told detectives: ‘I know nothing and this is the whole truth. I haven’t kidnapped anybody, this isn’t kidnapping is it?

‘I even want to help so that she’s found.’

He told police he parked in Haworth Street on the evening of January 31 because he planned to go for a run, but he saw Ms Squire ‘sitting crying’, the court heard.

He said: ‘I feel sorry for the girl because she was crying.’

The court heard that Relowicz told police: ‘I walked past the girl and she says to me ‘Stop please’. She said ‘I need help’. And I was asking ‘What’s up?’.

‘She went ‘I need to go home, I need my mother’ and she was crying, she was all in tears.’

He added: ‘She was drunk and it seems to me that either she had been taking something or somebody had given her something. She was behaving strangely.’

He said he offered to give Ms Squire a lift home in his car and described how she ‘nearly walked on to the road, where the cars were coming’ and held his hand as they walked, the court heard.

Ms Jackson said he told police he sat in his car to warm it up and, when Ms Squire got in, he fastened her seatbelt for her.

Relowicz told police he asked Ms Squire for directions as he drove and she directed him towards the Oak Road playing fields, where he said he would take his dog and son, the court heard.

But he said he told her to get out of his car because she looked like she might vomit and she fell over in the snow and knelt on the floor, crying, the jury was told.

The court heard that Relowicz told police he drove away and saw Ms Squire walking on the pavement.

He said in his interview: ‘I know nothing more about it. I’ve never seen her since.’

He told police he returned home, sat with his wife, had a bath and watched a film but, at some point, drove to see if Ms Squire was ‘lying anywhere’, the court heard.

He said: ‘I drove but there was nothing lying so I drove round and that was it.’

The trial was adjourned until Wednesday.

Tuesday’s exchanges came after the Sheffield court heard witness testimony from the last person to see Ms Squire alive.

Sainsbury’s manager Matthew Handisides heard her scream ‘don’t leave me’ just moments before she disappeared, the court heard. 

Mr Handisides saidhe was walking home down Beverley Road in Hull when he noticed the drunken student.

He said his attention was initially grabbed by a car with its headlights on before he was drawn to a ‘movement in the shadows’.

He said: ‘I noticed a young girl or lady on the ground. She was sat with her legs akimbo [with hands on the hips and elbows turned outwards].

‘She was yelling, not towards me but to the car or the shadows, ‘don’t leave me’ I made an assessment that she was very intoxicated. 

The ‘don’t leave me’ was more angry or cross rather than pleading or anything like that.’

Mr Handisides said he thought the car was of medium size but that he couldn’t make out its colour or if anyone was inside it because of the light.

He added he assumed the stricken woman was talking to her partner, although there was no mention of one, and carried on walking home.

‘From being a student myself I have plenty of female friends and have seen those kinds of interactions on nights out,’ he said.

‘Although I didn’t see a boyfriend, the way she was saying it was similar to how I’d seen my friends interact with their boyfriends.’

Prosecutor Mr Wright asked if he saw her again, to which the witness replied ‘no’. He also replied ‘no’ when asked if he saw any other man close to her at the time. 

The court also previously heard heard evidence from three of Ms Squire’s friends who were with her hours before she disappeared on January 31.

Her housemate Amelia Cummins said they began drinking while getting ready at home before going on to a house party and a club.

In a written statement read by the prosecution, she said: ‘We all had a good time, Libby was happy and funny. She was laughing and generally enjoying herself.

‘Libby appeared fine in herself and didn’t appear to have anything worrying her or any concerns.’

Ms Cummins said they began getting ready at around 7.30pm and that Ms Squire drunk two large vodka cranberries followed by a vodka coke and a bottle of wine after moving on t
o a friend’s house.

At the house, she chatted with a friend from her philosophy course at the University of Hull called Nathan Murphy, the court heard.

In a statement read about by the prosecution, he said: ‘Libby was in good spirits. She was welcoming and friendly.

‘Other than being cold and drunk she seemed fine in all other respects.’

Ms Squire left the house party for a club at around 11pm, Ms Cummins said, but that she was ‘struggling walking’.

In a statement, Ms Squire’s other housemate Chloe Wise said: ‘As we walked to the club Libby’s level of intoxication became more noticeable.

‘I was of the belief that the fresh air might have hit her.’

After being refused entry to the club for being ‘too drunk’ Ms Cummins and Ms Wise put Libby into a taxi and sent her back to their shared house, the court heard.

The court also heard from two more witnesses who spotted Libby on the street before she vanished.

University of Hull mechanical engineering student Joshua Scott said he was walking home from work at around 11.45am when he saw her.

In a statement read out by the prosecution, he said: ‘The female looked really drunk and seemed unable to stand. She was being loud, either singing or shouting, but she didn’t seem distressed.’

Mr Scott said by the time he got to the woman she was already being helped by Mr Jones, who the court heard from this morning, so he carried on walking home.