Libby Squire was seen ‘crying and screaming’ on the ground, murder trial told

The jury in the trial of Pawel Relowicz at Sheffield Crown Court heard statements from witnesses who saw Libby Squire on the evening she went missing.

Polish-born Relowicz, 26, of Raglan Street, Hull, East Yorkshire, denies raping and murdering the philosophy student on February 1 2019.

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The trial has heard from a number of people who saw Ms Squire on January 31 after she was refused entry to a nightclub in Hull because she appeared to be drunk.

The court previously heard that Relowicz, who worked as a butcher at Karro Foods in Malton, North Yorkshire, saw Ms Squire that evening and drove her in his car to the remote Oak Road playing fields, where he raped and murdered her before putting her body into the River Hull.

Libby Squire

On Monday, Richard Woolfall, prosecuting, read a statement from witness Lorna Allen, who saw Ms Squire in Beverley Road shortly before midnight on January 31 2019.

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Mr Woolfall told the jury that Ms Allen said: “I saw a girl on the other side of the road, at the bus stop near Haworth Street.

“She was lying on the floor and crying and screaming. She was in a state. I couldn’t understand her.”

Family photos of Libby

The statement continued: “She was lying flat-out on the floor, on her right side.

“She was slurring her words and talking to herself and she seemed very drunk. I said to her ‘Are you all right?’ She replied ‘I just want to go home’.

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Another witness told police she saw Ms Squire “sobbing” and saying that she was trying to get to Wellesley Avenue – where she lived with three other students – and a group of men, who saw her get out of a taxi near her home, described how they saw her fall as she walked away, the court heard.

Tributes left at a bench in Hull where Libby was seen the night she died. Inset: Libby with her mum Lisa

Mr Woolfall also read the statement of Hannah Wright, a student who heard Ms Squire “crying and sobbing” outside her house and invited her inside.

Ms Wright said in her statement: “She didn’t say anything coherent. She was crying, sobbing, rambling. She appeared to me to be drunk.”

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The witness said she and her housemates tried to find out Ms Squire’s name and address but said she was “not forthcoming with information” and she left after being in the house for around five minutes.

Roland Jacobs told the court that he tried to help Ms Squire after seeing her lying on the ground in the snow as he and a friend drove home from a darts match.

He said: “I said ‘Stop the car’. I realised what it was – it was a girl laid there on the floor. I wouldn’t like to see my daughter in that state.”

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He added: “She was just mumbling things but I couldn’t understand what she was actually saying.”

Mr Jacobs said Ms Squire asked him to lie on the ground with her, and later asked him for a hug but he refused.

He said she began swearing at him.

The court heard that Mr Jacobs helped Ms Squire off the ground and on to a wall before deciding to “give up on it as a bad job” and driving away after around 10 minutes.

The trial continues.