Libby Squire's mother: 'Women should feel safe, it's a fundamental right'

The mother of Libby Squire, who was raped and murdered in Hull, said women's safety should be a priority, following the sentencing of Sarah Everard's killer.

Married 26-year-old butcher father-of-two, Pawel Relowicz, was jailed for 27 years for Libby's rape and murder. He had dumped Ms Squire’s body in the River Hull after raping her on a playing field in the early hours of the 1st of February 2019.

Today, Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens has been sentenced to life behind bars for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

Couzens used his Met Police warrant card and handcuffs to kidnap 33-year-old Ms Everard as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3.

Lisa Squire said anyone whole life sentences should be standardised for anyone who 'takes someones child.'

''If you rape, you murder, if you take someone's daughter, you deserve a whole life tariff. It would be a stronger deterrent.''

''Maybe it's time to prioritise women's safety, we shouldn't have to go out in pairs, we shouldn't have to be escorted home. I have hundreds of messages from women who say they were followed, exposed to. Anyone shouldn't have to fear walking on the streets.''

The reaction to Sarah Everard's horrific murder shone a spotlight onto violence against women, with campaigners and the public calling for greater safety of women.

The UK government responded by laying out a plan to improve safety by promising better lighting, more CCTV, an online tool that people can record areas where they feel unsafe, a new violence against women police chief, and undercover police officers in bars. 

Lisa Squire has been speaking to the government about more changes that can be made to make streets safer. She says although there is CCTV on the streets, the images are grainy and 'not adequate.'

''Improved street lighting would help. These people who target our women, they don't do it in broad daylight, it would make women feel safer. Just little things will make a huge difference.''

Lisa is still reeling from her daughters death, but said she is coping 'minute by minute.'

''I still don't believe Libby has gone, I can't accept she's gone because it is unacceptable.''