Lisa Squire fears Libby’s murderer could kill again
MUM CALLS FOR HARSHER SENTENCES
LIBBY Squire’s mother told MPS she fears her daughter’s murderer may kill again and called for harsher sentences, treatment and education to stop offences such as voyeurism and flashing before they escalate into more serious crimes.
Lisa Squire said women could potentially be spared from the trauma of rape or worse if powers to punish and treat offenders who commit non-contact sexual offences are strengthened. The campaigner told MPS Libby’s killer Pawel Relowicz’s behaviour had been allowed to escalate to raping and murdering her and fears he could offend again once he is released.
Mrs Squire’s testimony at the Home Affairs Select Committee on Wednesday, February 21, came as MPS heard evidence on tackling lower level sexual offences to stop offenders’ behaviour getting worse. Committee Chair and Hull North MP Diana Johnson has previously said Relowicz had committed offences including indecent exposure, voyeurism, public masturbation and others for 16 months before killing Libby.
Libby was a student at the University of Hull when Relowicz raped her, killed her and dumped her body in the River Hull. Libby’s mother told MPS the failure to stop Relowicz while he was committing lower level offences ultimately cost her daughter her life.
Mrs Squire and Dame Diana have previously called for mandatory referrals for treatment for those convicted of non-contact offences. She said: “When my daughter was murdered we discovered that the man who did it had a long history of non-contact sexual offences, voyeurism and lewd behaviour in public.
“I could see a link between his offending and him raping and murdering my daughter, his offences had escalated massively. Two hours after he killed my daughter he was out on the streets looking for another victim.
“He got a minimum of 27 years for killing Libby and he was 24, he’ll come out and do it again. I think if you take someone’s life you should forfeit your own. He took her life, she’s never going to be able to go abroad for Christmas, get engaged, married or any of those things.
“About a month before she died I bought her a spa voucher, we never got to go on that spa break together. These offences are still seen as the seaside postcard dirty old man flashing at you, but it’s incredibly serious.
“It’s difficult to find data on this but I’ve got a huge circle of friends and everyone has been a victim of a non-contact sexual offence. As women, we’ve been taught to think that this is just something that happens, but it’s not it’s a crime and normal men don’t do this.
“Libby herself was a victim of one before her murder, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that it may have been the man who killed her as her was prolific in the area. The police want to stop it but it’s not reported very frequently, but when I go into schools and sixth forms I tell the girls you have to report it, but for a young girl to talk about what happened it can be embarrassing.
“Girls think the police won’t catch them and it’s not about them catching that man that night but if we get the data from reports they can see if it’s becoming a problem in an area. We need to speak about this at home, as parents we don’t talk to our children about it enough, and there needs to be education in schools for boys and girls.
“We need to have a push to say this is criminal, at the moment it’s a slap on the wrist for many who are caught, I think they should throw the book at them. I think treatment services would be useful, we can’t just leave men out on the streets doing this, it should be mandatory as part of their sentence, some will be willing to change.
“I think they should most definitely be on the sex offenders register for life for committing these offences. If we stop men here then we can save women and girls from the trauma of rape.”