Lisa Squire 'in talks' with Home Secretary for tougher non-contact sexual offences punishment
Lisa has been leading a campaign to better protect women and girls
Last updated 1st May 2024
The mum of murdered Hull Uni student Libby Squire, is in talks with the Home Secretary over how to better tackle non-contact sexual crimes.
Libby Squire was murdered in 2019 after being separated from her friends on a night out in Hull.
Her killer, Pawel Relowicz had already spent months committing non-contact sexual offences, which came to light following Libby's disappearance, when several women came forward to report crimes.
Since her daughter's brutal murder, Lisa has been pushing and fighting for a change, and was invited last month to give evidence at the Home Affairs Select Committee, which has been followed by a Home Office visit this week to discuss her campaign.
Speaking to us, Lisa Squire said: "As a mother you do everything for your children, and just because Libby isn't alive anymore doesn't mean I stopped doing things for her."
"I'm doing it for all of my children and and all other women that hopefully won't have to go through what Libby had to go through and and families won't have to go through what we went through."
Non-contact sexual offences refer to a range of sexual offences involving no physical contact between the perpetrator and the victim, such as indecent exposure and voyeurism.
Lisa has been leading what she labels 'Libby's Legacy', a campaign encompassing a range of calls for action to better punish offenders, prevent reoffending, and protect women and girls.
She said: "I'm calling for better recognition of non contact sexual offences amongst the general public and amongst police and and government."
"Non contact sexual offenders are waving red flags at us and we have been ignoring them or or missing them."
"Reporting is very important, so for all females who have been a victim to report to the local police, it's important for the police to take reporting seriously, and we've talked about government putting things in place to ensure that victims are heard and that police take these things seriously."
Amongst the many requests put forward to Home Secretary James Cleverley was a call for more funding into research, which could help provide better understanding of behaviours, types of non-contact sexual crimes, victim reporting, and support for both victims and offenders.
She said: "We asked for more funding into research into non contact sexual offending and I'd like to see the government listen to all the all the points that the report will come forward with."
Lisa could soon become instrumental in a change in law which could see harsher punishment for so-called 'low-level' sexual offences, while better protecting women.