Butcher accused of murdering Libby Squire ‘only wanted to help’ her, court told

Pawel Relowicz, 26, told Sheffield Crown Court that he had consensual sex with Libby Squire on the evening she disappeared, but said she was not “a target” for him to have “easy sex”.

Polish-born Relowicz denies raping and murdering 21-year-old Ms Squire, from High Wycombe, in Hull, East Yorkshire, on February 1, 2019.

READ MORE: Man accused of murdering Libby Squire gives evidence

Speaking through an interpreter, Relowicz, of Raglan Street, Hull, has told the court that he was “looking for a woman to have easy sex” on the night of January 31, but said he just wanted to help Ms Squire, who he found drunk and distressed in the street after being refused entry to a nightclub.

In cross-examination on Tuesday, Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, asked the defendant: “And though you told us yesterday that you were looking for easy sex, this drunk, hypothermic, lost girl was not the easy sex you were looking for?”

Libby Squire

Relowicz, who worked as a butcher at Karro Foods, in Malton, North Yorkshire, replied: “She wanted my help and I only wanted to help her.”

Mr Wright said: “From the very moment you saw her, she became a target for the easy sex you told the jury you were looking for that night, didn’t she?”

The defendant answered: “She was not a target for me.”

Relowicz has told the jury that he offered University of Hull philosophy student Ms Squire a lift home, but stopped the car near Oak Road playing fields when he thought she was going to be sick.

The married father-of-two said she asked for a hug and they ended up kissing before having sex on the ground near his car.

The defendant said she tried to kiss him again but he turned away and she scratched his face.

Libby with her mum

He told the court that he then drove away and saw her behind his car shouting at him not to leave her.

Mr Wright asked Relowicz why he did not tell this to the police when he was arrested five days after Ms Squire disappeared.

READ MORE: No evidence ‘utterly disgusting’ murder-accused is her killer, defence claims

He said: “It was not a deliberate decision. I had two children and a wife and I didn’t want her to find out I had cheated on her.

“I didn’t do anything to Libby. I didn’t kill her, I didn’t rape her and I left her where I said I left her.”

Libby's parents put out an emotional appeal after she went missing. Pic: Thames Valley Police

The prosecution has told the jury that Relowicz picked up Ms Squire while he was “prowling around the student area” looking for an opportunity to commit a sexual offence against a vulnerable young woman.

The court has heard that he drove her to Oak Road playing fields, where he raped and murdered her before putting into the River Hull.

Her body was recovered about seven weeks later in the Humber estuary.

The trial continues.