Has missing student Libby been abducted?

DETECTIVES investigating the disappearance of student Libby Squire say they are investigating ‘all possibilities’ amid growing local fears that she may have been abducted.

Dozens of police officers have been searching for the 21-year-old philosophy undergraduate, pictured, for six days without finding any clues.

A specialist police marine unit has thoroughly searched a large pond and waterway a few minutes’ walk from Miss Squire’s home in Hull. And yesterday 20 officers scoured a wooded area near playing fields without success.

At least one known sex offender has been questioned and had his premises searched, and police have carried out searches at numerous properties in the area. The investigation is officially still a missing person inquiry, but concerns are growing with each passing day.

A neighbour who asked not to be named said yesterday: ‘If she had suffered an accident then you’d think she would have been found by now. It doesn’t look good.’ Liberal Democrat city councillor Paul Drake-Davis added: ‘People are very concerned about it. Everyone is in a bit of shock and we are praying for good news.

‘This is generally regarded as a safe area. I know it’s a cliché but you don’t expect this sort of thing around here.

‘But as long as police say there is hope, we will keep that candle burning for her. It’s a desperately sad situation but we won’t give up hope just yet.’

A taxi dropped off Miss Squire outside her home in Wellesley Avenue at 11.29pm last Thursday. Students who saw her said she was so drunk that she was ‘mumbling and struggling to walk’.

Instead of going inside, Miss Squire walked down the road and was seen on CCTV sitting on a bench on the main Beverley Road 300 yards away. Police said she was in the area until 12.09am.

Chief Superintendent Phil Ward said: ‘While the investigation has been treated as a missing person inquiry, we continue to keep an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding Libby’s disappearance. We must carry out a thorough investigation and explore all possibilities.’

Miss Squire’s parents, Lisa and Russell, have travelled to Hull from their home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and are anxiously awaiting developments.

They have walked the streets where their daughter was last seen.