Libby Squire: Hull vigil held to remember murdered student

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Libby SquireImage source, PA Media
Image caption,

Libby Squire, 21, was on a night out in Hull in 2019 when she disappeared

A vigil to remember murdered student Libby Squire has been held on the fourth anniversary of her disappearance.

Libby Squire, 21, was on a night out in Hull in 2019 when she was abducted and killed by Pawel Relowicz.

Her body was found in the Humber Estuary seven weeks after she vanished.

Candles were lit and flowers laid on Tuesday evening at a memorial bench on Beverley Road, close to where the philosophy student was last seen.

Georgia Lucas, of the Feminist Society at the University of Hull, said many students felt unsafe following the death of Ms Squire, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

"We are here for Libby on her anniversary, but it is for women everywhere," she said.

Image caption,

Georgia Lucas, from the Feminist Society at the University of Hull, is campaigning for women's safety

Hull students Cory Malburn and Anna Morse were among the crowd paying their respects.

Ms Morse said: "I have had stalkers, I have had people trying to spike my drinks, it's everywhere."

"I'm scared to leave the campus on my own," Ms Malburn added.

Image caption,

Anna Morse and Sela Maadh paid their respects at the vigil on Tuesday night

Humberside Police are urging people to report low-level sex crimes to help prevent future offending.

Supt Iain Pottage said: "Incidents of the horrific nature that happened to Libby are thankfully really rare still and I think Humberside is a safe place to live."

But he said the issue of women's safety has still not been fully dealt with: "Sadly there has been and will always be predatory offenders. The difficult thing for us is catching them and we can't catch them without the public giving us the information about them."

Taibat Hussain from the students' union at the University of Hull said there is more work to be done to improve student safety and encourage people to report their experiences.

"That's when we, as a university, can actually address it," she said.

Image caption,

Students held a vigil at a memorial bench on Beverley Road to mark four years since Libby Squire's disappearance

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