I felt guilty for not making my daughter report indecent exposure – it could’ve saved her life, says Libby Squire’s mum
RAPED and murdered before her body was dumped in the River Hull, Libby Squire’s death in 2019 shocked the nation.
During the trial of her killer Pawel Relowicz, who was 26 at the time of conviction, it emerged that Libby had not been his first victim – far from it.
Relowicz had committed what his barrister called “utterly disgusting” sexual offences in the months before that night, including voyeurism, masturbating in the street and stealing sex toys and underwear from women’s homes.
Three months before her death, Libby had also been the victim of a non-contact sex crime, committed by an unidentified male, who indecently exposed himself as she walked home with a friend.
He may or may not have been Pawel Relowicz.
“Libby was furious,” says Lisa, 52, in an exclusive interview with Fabulous. “She said: ‘How dare someone think they can do that to me?’
“I didn’t realise [it is classified as] a sex crime, and it never crossed my mind to tell her to report it. Libby didn’t think to report it, either.
“In my lifetime, women have been conditioned to accept such behaviour. In the very early days after she died, I felt guilty for not getting her to report it. I felt it was my fault.
“But now I’ve come to realise I didn’t tell her to do so because I didn’t know better.”
Like Relowicz, who was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 27 years before he will be eligible for parole, Metropolitan Police Officer Wayne Couzens, who raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021 after abducting her as she walked home, had also previously indecently exposed himself to a number of women, including just days before at a McDonald’s Drive Thru.
Andrea Simon, executive director of End Violence Against Women Coalition, explains that perpetrators don’t go out and kill without any prior indication that they are a danger.
“Indecent exposure can be part of a pattern of offending that can ultimately include offences like rape and murder, as we tragically saw with Sarah Everard and Libby Squire, among others.
“We’ve long known that the police aren’t taking so-called ‘lower-level’ sexual violence offences seriously enough.
These types of offences are usually minimised and even tolerated as a normal part of life for women and girls, rather than recognised as both inherently harmful and often part of a dangerous pattern of risky sexual-offending behaviour.
‘Red flags’
“Because of this, these offences are highly under-reported, and those that are reported are rarely investigated or see criminal charges brought against a suspect.”
Since 2018, almost 250 men found guilty of indecent exposure have subsequently been found guilty of rape.
Following her daughter’s murder, Lisa has campaigned for non-contact sexual offences to be treated as “red flags” and for them to be taken more seriously in a bid to help stop offenders before their crimes escalate.
She has worked with Humberside Police on the Libby Campaign, which urges women to report low-level sex offences, and with the Met and Thames Valley Police to raise awareness of the seriousness of such crimes.
In February this year, Lisa also gave evidence at a Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry to examine if enough is being done to prevent the escalation of sex offending.
“Non-contact sexual offenders become emboldened, and they need to go up to the next level to get the same kick that they would have done from the lower level offences,” she tells Fabulous.
“Relowicz is a disturbed individual. The fact that, in our case, two hours after doing what he did, he was back out on the streets looking for another victim… That just says it all, doesn’t it?
“The courageous people who reported [Relowicz’s non-contact sexual offences before and after he killed Libby] helped piece together the whole case in the end,” she says.
“Those girls and women were incredibly brave to come forward.”
The courageous people who reported [Relowicz’s non-contact sexual offences before and after he killed Libby] helped piece together the whole case in the end
Lisa
Eniye Okah, 29, a company founder and director, understands why women are often reluctant to report offences.
In September 2019, she had been at an interview in London and was waiting outside the coach station to travel back home to Nottingham when a man moved close to her and began masturbating.
“I thought: ‘Is this really happening?’” she remembers. “I walked off quickly, just wanting to get away.”
“I didn’t report the incident because I didn’t think the police would take it seriously and I just wanted to get home and forget it.
“Four years before, a guy had harassed me on a train. He told me I was pretty and asked for my number, but when I told him I had a boyfriend, he started insulting me, saying I was ugly.
“I felt very intimidated, especially when he followed me through the station barriers.
“I called the police, who said: ‘We might not get anything out of this.’ I felt like I was being fobbed off, so when the incident happened in London, I had no confidence they’d help me.”
Four years on and Eniye remains, understandably, traumatised.
“That image has never left my mind, it’s so disturbing. I never spoke about what happened with anyone, because how do I even bring that up in a conversation?
“I’m more cautious as a result. I try not to be in an area where there’s not many people and if I’m on public transport, I stay away from any men.”
Katy Barrow-Grint, assistant chief constable of Thames Valley Police says: “Everybody should report a non-contact sexual offence, however minor they think it is.
“You never know if that is part of a bigger jigsaw in terms of offending.
“What it means from a policing perspective is that we have that intelligence picture. We can start to layer things up.
You might not be the only person who’s reported an offence in that area. And if we have the information, it means we can increase our patrols in a certain area. We can proactively police a particular area at a particular time of day.”
Francesca Baker, 37, a communications consultant from London, was the victim of a non-contact sex crime in March this year.
‘Never a waste of time’
“I was out running on a busy road at 8am when I stopped to stretch. As I was leaning against a wall, a man came over and stood in my way then started fiddling with his trousers, so I ran around him,” she says.
“I felt uneasy after it happened, and a friend encouraged me to report it.
“Within two days, officers came to my home, and when I said the man didn’t touch me, they reassured me that reporting the incident was still the right thing to do and said it counted as an offence.
“The officers told me they’d go through CCTV footage and would circulate the offence around other Met officers. I genuinely felt they were taking it seriously.”
As yet, the man hasn’t been caught, but Francesca refuses to let it stop from running alone.
Making a report may actually save someone’s life
Lisa
For Lisa, her work in daughter Libby’s name is creating a legacy to protect other women, not just from non-contact sexual offences, but also even more serious crimes.
“It feels like yesterday that I lost Libby, and it also feels like 100 years ago… I miss her incredibly,” she says.
“If this happens to you, making a report may actually save someone’s life. It’s never a waste of time.”
- To report a non-criminal sexual offence, visit a police station, call 101, or report at Police.uk. For support, visit Victimsupport.org.uk or call free on 08081 689 111.