Detectives who investigated the murder of Libby Squire have said there was nothing more police could have done to prevent her tragic death – despite Pawel Relowicz committing a series of sexually-motivated crimes in the months before he raped and killed her.

Humberside Police said there was no way of linking the frightening catalogue of at least nine offences perpetrated by Relowicz before he escalated to rape and murder.

The Polish-born butcher’s crimes included exposing himself in public, masturbating in front of women in the street, watching them through their windows as they changed or had sex, and breaking into homes to steal sex toys and underwear.

But Relowicz had no convictions before Miss Squire went missing on February 1 2019, so police did not have his DNA or fingerprints to compare with evidence found at these crime scenes.

Officers said they did not have the forensic evidence they needed to conclude the crimes were all carried out by the same offender.

Of Relowicz’s nine convictions, police said two of the incidents only came to light after Miss Squire’s disappearance.

Humberside Police’s Professional Standards Department looked into whether the incidents were properly investigated at the time they happened, and concluded they were.

The offences were only linked after Relowicz was arrested in connection with Miss Squire’s disappearance – a step police said “undoubtedly” prevented him from going on to commit further crimes.

Detective Superintendent Martin Smalley said officers who were not involved in the original investigations were asked to review those cases.

“They were asked to identify whether anything more could have been done to prevent the tragic death of Libby Squire,” he said.

“While there were some occasions where forensics were recovered in connection to these previously reported offences, they could not have been connected in a way that would have led us to Pawel Relowicz any earlier.

“I can understand that people are interested to know whether Libby’s tragic death could have been prevented.

“It is important to remember that whilst taken as a whole, and with the benefit of hindsight, we may be able to point to a history of offending by Pawel Relowicz, officers investigating these offences at the time were doing so with far less information than we have now and that my investigation into Libby’s disappearance had.”

Relowicz was charged with 13 offences and, in August 2019, pleaded guilty to nine of those charges – including voyeurism, outraging public decency and burglary – and was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

It can now be reported for the first time that his sentence was reduced to five years and eight months at the Court of Appeal in March last year.

Relowicz’s crimes over a period of 18 months were described as causing “abhorrence” and “horror and revulsion” by his own barrister.

They left his victims feeling “violated” and “terrified”, and Judge Jeremy Richardson QC described him as “very dangerous” when he sentenced Relowicz in 2019.

Relowicz’s first known crime took place in July 2017 when he put his head through an open window and watched a young woman having sex before leaving a used condom and a pair of knickers behind at the scene.

Later that month, he burgled a house and left behind a condom, which he had worn, on a child’s toy.

In December 2017, Relowicz stole vibrators from a bedroom and, two months later, he stared at a woman through her bedroom window as she returned from a shower.

In May 2018, a woman saw him staring at her through her bedroom window.

Relowicz watched a woman dancing in her lounge wearing a bra and leggings in December 2018. The same woman also reported seeing his hands coming through her letterbox less than a month later.

On January 12 2019 – 19 days before he encountered Ms Squire – he masturbated in front of two women. Eight days later, he masturbated in front of another woman, who was sitting on a wall with a friend.

He followed the friends as they returned to a house and ejaculated on the front door.

These two offences were only reported to police after Miss Squire’s disappearance.

Just days before he raped and murdered Miss Squire, he broke into a student house and stole a pink holdall that was later recovered from the boot of his car, containing underwear, sex toys and lubricants. This offence was still being investigated when Miss Squire disappeared.