Libby Squire murder-accused Pawel Relowicz 'had bag of women's underwear and photographs in his car'

Underwear was found in Pawel Relowicz's car boot with sex toys and Halloween masks, Sheffield Crown Court was told.

The 26-year-old also denied putting Libby Squire into his car on the evening she disappeared with the intention of committing a sexual offence, the jury heard.

Polish-born Relowicz, of Raglan Street, Hull, East Yorkshire, denies raping and murdering Ms Squire in Hull on February 1 2019.

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On Wednesday, prosecutor Richard Woolfall and retired Detective Constable Claire Jackson, of Humberside Police, continued reading out transcripts of the defendant’s police interviews.

Asked about a pink sports bag found in his car, containing sex toys, women’s underwear and photographs, Relowicz said he “forgot” about them and they did not belong to him or his wife, the court heard.

Family photos of Libby

He told police he did not know who they belonged to or where they came from but said he had “checked” the contents of the bag, the jury was told.

Mr Woolfall said detectives asked Relowicz: “Did you put Libby in your car that night with the intention of committing a sexual offence?”

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The court heard that the defendant replied: “No.”

The jury heard that he told police he had two “Halloween” masks in the boot of his car – one which detectives described as a “Scream” mask and the other which was described as having red hair.

A court sketch of Relowicz at an earlier hearing

Father-of-two Relowicz told police they were in his boot because his wife said they were frightening for babies.

The jury of five men and seven women has heard that Relowicz, a butcher who worked at Karro Foods in Malton, North Yorkshire, was arrested on suspicion of abducting the philosophy student five days after her disappearance.

ALSO READ: Libby Squire murder trial: Father-of-two Pawel Relowicz told police he offered ‘crying girl lift home’

During his interviews, he told police that he found Ms Squire – who was a student at the University of Hull but was originally from High Wycombe – in Beverley Road crying and saying she needed her mother, the court has heard.

The jury heard that he offered her a lift home in his silver Vauxhall Astra and she directed him to Oak Road, where he told her to get out of the car because he thought she was going to be sick.

Libby Squire

He told police he saw her walking along the pavement as he drove away and he did not see her again, the court heard.

The prosecution has told the court that Relowicz saw Ms Squire – who had been refused entry to a nightclub because she was too drunk – as he was “prowling around the student area” looking for an opportunity to commit a sexual offence against a vulnerable young woman.

ALSO READ: Man 'raped and murdered vulnerable and distressed' student from High Wycombe

He drove her in his car to remote Oak Road playing fields, where he raped and murdered her before putting her body in the River Hull, the court heard.

The trial continues.