Lisa Squire, the mother of student Libby Squire
(Picture: PA Archive)The mother of Libby Squire, a student in Hull who was raped and murdered, says she “doesn’t hate” her daughter’s killer ahead of meeting him face-to-face.
Pawel Relowicz, 26, has agreed to meet Lisa Squire, more than three years after the 21-year-old Hull University philosophy student’s body was found in the River Hull.
The Polish married father-of-two is serving at least 27 years behind bars after being found guilty of raping Libby on a playing field and dumping her body in the river in the early hours of February 1, 2019.
Ms Squire, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire has been wanting to meet Relowicz in the hope of finding out exactly what happened to her daughter.
“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,” she told the Daily Mail.
“I’m not interested in hearing he is sorry, or that he has a problem or that it was a lapse of judgment. I want to know how Libby died.”
Ms Squire told the Daily Mail her mind “fills in the blanks and it goes down some dark paths” without knowing the events in the lead-up to Libby’s death.
She said she isn’t nervous about meeting Relowicz, and finding answers is about “honouring Libby”.
A date has not yet been set for Ms Squire’s meeting with Relowicz, which has been arranged via a restorative justice charity.
Relowicz had come across Libby, 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 during his trial.
Her 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 denied raping and murdering Libby.
Earlier this year Ms Squire said she wanted her daughter’s legacy to be “change for women”.
She told BBC Breakfast: “Because of what happened to her, I want other women to be safer.
“I will honour her until I take my last breath.”
The mother-of-four met with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss tougher measures for non-contact sexual offences.
Before Relowicz killed Libby Squire, he had a history of non-contact sex crimes including voyeurism.
Libby’s murder is explored in a three-part Sky Crime documentary, Libby, Are You Home Yet?, airing on Thursday at 9pm.
