RAPED and murdered before her body was thrown into 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 his conviction, it emerged that Libby had not been his first victim – far from it.
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Relowicz had committed what his lawyer called “utterly disgusting” sex crimes in the months leading up to that night, including voyeurism, street masturbation and stealing sex toys and women’s underwear. houses.
Three months before her death, Libby had also been the victim of a non-contact sex crime, committed by an unidentified man, who indecently exposed himself while she was walking home with a friend.
He may or may not have been Pawel Relowicz.
“Libby was furious,” Lisa, 52, said in an exclusive interview with Fabulous. “She said, ‘How dare anyone think they could do this to me?’
“I didn’t realize [it is classified as] a sexual crime, and it never crossed my mind to tell her to report it. Libby didn’t think about reporting him either.
“Throughout my life, women have been conditioned to accept such behavior. In the first few days after her death, I felt guilty for not getting her to report it. I felt like it was my fault.
“But now I realize I didn’t tell her to do it because I didn’t know that.”
Just like Relowicz, who was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 27 years before being eligible for parole, Metropolitan Police Officer Wayne Couzens, who raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021 after kidnapping her as she walked home, he had also previously indecently exposed himself to several women, including a few days earlier at a McDonald’s Drive Thru.
Andrea Simon, executive director of the Coalition to End Violence Against Women, 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 crimes such as rape and murder, as we have seen tragically with Sarah Everard and Libby Squire, among others.
“We have long known that police do not take so-called ‘lower level’ sexual violence crimes seriously enough.
These types of crimes are often minimized and even tolerated as a normal part of women and girls’ lives, rather than being recognized as inherently harmful and often part of a dangerous pattern of risky sexual offending behavior.
‘Red flags’
“Because of this, these crimes are highly underreported and those that are reported are rarely investigated or receive criminal charges against a suspect.”
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Since 2018, nearly 250 men found guilty of indecent exposure were later found guilty of rape.
Following her daughter’s murder, Lisa campaigned for non-contact sex crimes 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 sexual 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 to a Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into whether enough is being done to prevent the escalation of sexual crimes.
“Non-contact sex offenders become emboldened and need to go to the next level to get the same shot they would have had with lower-level offenses,” she tells Fabulous.
“Relowicz is a disturbed individual. The fact that, in our case, two hours after doing what he did, he was back on the streets looking for another victim… That says it all, doesn’t it?
“The brave people who reported [Relowicz’s non-contact sexual offences before and after he killed Libby] It helped bring the whole case together in the end,” she says.
“These girls and women were incredibly brave to come forward.”
The brave people who reported [Relowicz’s non-contact sexual offences before and after he killed Libby] helped bring the whole case together in the end
Lisa
Eniye Okah, 29, a company founder and director, understands why women are often reluctant to report crimes.
In September 2019, she was at an interview in London and waiting outside the bus station to return home to Nottingham when a man approached her and began masturbating.
“I thought, ‘Is this really happening?’” she recalls. “I left 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 about it.
“Four years earlier, a guy 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 tricked, so when the incident happened in London, I wasn’t sure they would help me.”
Four years later, Eniye remains, understandably, traumatized.
“That image has never left my head, it’s so disturbing. I never talked about what happened to anyone, because how do I bring it up in conversation?
“As a result, I am more cautious. I try not to be in an area where there aren’t a lot of people and if I’m on public transport, I stay away from any men.”
Katy Barrow-Grint, Deputy Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, says: “Everyone should report a non-contact sex crime, no matter how minor they think it is.
“You never know if it’s part of a bigger puzzle in terms of the offense.
“What this means from a policing perspective is that we have this intelligence picture. We can start to layer things.
You may not be the only person who has reported a crime in this area. And if we have the information, it means we can increase our patrols in a certain area. We can proactively police a certain area at a certain time of day.”
Francesca Baker, 37, a communications consultant from London, was the victim of a non-contact sex crime in March this year.
‘It’s never a waste of time’
“I was running on a busy road at 8am when I stopped to stretch. While I was leaning against the wall, a man came up and got in my way and started fumbling with his pants, so I ran around him,” she says.
“I felt uncomfortable after this happened and a friend encouraged me to report it.
“Within two days, the officers came to my house and when I said the man had not touched me, they assured me that reporting the incident was still the right thing to do and said it counted as an offence.
“Officers told me they would review the CCTV footage and publicize the offense among other Met officers. I really felt like they were taking it seriously.”
So far, the man has not been caught, but Francesca refuses to let him stop running alone.
Reporting a report can actually save someone’s life
Lisa
For Lisa, her work on behalf of her daughter Libby is creating a legacy to protect other women, not just from non-contact sexual crimes, but even more serious crimes.
“It seems like yesterday that I lost Libby, and it also seems like 100 years ago… I miss her so much,” she says.
“If this happens to you, reporting it could 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 it on Police.uk. For support, visit Victimsupport.org.uk or call free on 08081 689 111.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
