The mother of murdered student Libby Squire has called for tougher measures on low-level sex offenders to prevent them from committing more serious crimes. Libby, 21, was raped and murdered by Pawel Relowicz, who had a history of spying on female students in Hull and committing indecent acts in the street.
Her mother, Lisa Squire, said women had the right to be safe while walking and that low-level sex cases 'can be avoided'. She is campaigning for a change in the law to protect women from harm, stating: 'These are massive red flags and we are not taking any notice of them. They start off with the so-called low-level sex offences, there's nothing low level about them, they very often escalate and they are deviant behaviours.'
Ms Squire added: 'We really need to come down hard on people who are doing these, we need women to report things like this when it happens to them, we need the police to act on those.' She expressed frustration that women's safety 'doesn't seem to be a priority' and believed there was 'a massive problem with not enough police officers on the streets'.
Her comments came on the same day that Met Police officer Wayne Couzens was handed a whole-life prison term for the abduction, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard. Cars registered to Couzens had been linked to two allegations of indecent exposure, but he was not identified as a potential sex offender, a Met review found.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'Whilst we pay our respects to Sarah and her family, as Home Secretary, but also as a woman, I take nothing more seriously than my duty to keep the people of this country safe. Let me assure women and girls everywhere that I will do everything in my power to protect them from violence and harassment.'
Libby Squire was attacked in February 2019 after being refused entry to a Hull nightclub. Her body was later found in the Humber estuary. In February, Relowicz, 26, was sentenced to at least 27 years in jail.
