Missing student’s parents make emotional plea for 21-year-old to get in touch 

The parents of missing Libby Squire have made an emotional appeal for information as police search a river behind her student home.

Libby, 21, disappeared after a night out in Hull on Thursday and was last seen getting out of a taxi near her the terraced house she shares with friends.

Police and fellow students have been frantically searching the area ever since, with divers and boat crews scouring a river in the Yorkshire city today. 

Fighting back tears this morning, her mother Lisa said: ‘Libby, my darling pie, we just want to know that you are safe.

‘Please get in touch with us any way you can. The whole family is missing you, especially me and your dad, your sisters and your brother.

‘I miss you so much it’s breaking my heart not knowing where you are. I love you.’ 

Russell and Lisa Squire, the parents of missing student Libby Squire, today made an emotional appeal for information in helping to find her

Libby Squire was last seen on Thursday, January 31, after leaving the Welly Club in Hull

Libby, pictured with her friend Rachel

Libby Squire (left and, right, with her friend Rachel)  was last seen on Thursday, January 31, after leaving the Welly Club in Hull

In the statement filmed by Humberside Police, Libby’s father, Russell Squire, described his daughter as ‘our kind, thoughtful, beautiful girl, who is loved by so many people’.

He appealed for people to come forward with any information ‘no matter how small or irrelevant it may be’.

Mr Squire, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, added: ‘We just want you home.’ 

Libby was spotted getting in a taxi after leaving the ‘Welly Club’ in Hull, East Yorkshire, at around 11pm on Thursday before returning to her student home.

But rather than going straight inside, she is believed to have walked around the area and then failed to come home. 

Her family have said her disappearance is ‘very out of character’, adding that she is a ‘very thoughtful and caring woman, who always put other people before herself’.

Libby – who was wearing a black long sleeved top, leather jacket and black denim skirt with lace – reportedly looked ‘very drunk’ as she was getting out of the taxi after her night at the club, witnesses say.

The second-year Philosophy and Religion student was then seen 45 minutes later less than half a mile away sat on a bench at the junction of Beverley Road and Haworth Street.

Police with sniffer dogs are searching a river bank not far from the student's home this morning

Police with sniffer dogs are searching a river bank not far from the student’s home this morning

Police teams are also searching the waters of the Beverley and Barmston Drain river

Police teams are also searching the waters of the Beverley and Barmston Drain river

Crime scene investigators were seen on Sunday night swabbing a door at a property on Wellesley Avenue. 

The team – who had been at the property for over an hour – also used ultra-violet light and torches on the front door.

Police sniffer dogs teams combed nearby roads and gardens over the weekend. Specialist teams are also carrying out searches around the River Hull. 

Police have ruled out three items found near where she was last seen – including a lip gloss and screwdriver – and said they are ‘part of another investigation’.

A police spokesman said there ‘was nothing to suggest, at this stage, that the items retrieved by forensic officers near the spot where Libby Squire was last seen [on CCTV] are connected with the investigation into her disappearance.’

The police search has centred on three streets in Hull, one where Libby lived and the other two where she was last seen

The police search has centred on three streets in Hull, one where Libby lived and the other two where she was last seen

Detective Superintendent Simon Gawthorpe said: 'We have specialist teams again out today carrying out searches and we are working with Humberside Fire and Rescue and the Coastguard, who will be around the River Hull'

Detective Superintendent Simon Gawthorpe said: ‘We have specialist teams again out today carrying out searches and we are working with Humberside Fire and Rescue and the Coastguard, who will be around the River Hull’

Police crews have been using devices to examine the river bed of the Barmston Drain

Police crews have been using devices to examine the river bed of the Barmston Drain

Miss Squire’s close friend Ryan Tweddle said Miss Squire had been in good spirits and was ‘a bit drunk and hugging everyone’ on the night she disappeared.

He added: ‘She is lovely and always loving. She is very bubbly and is always joking.’ Mr Tweddle said police had taken items from her student room including her phone, which she did not take with her on the night she disappeared.

Libby’s friends have been taking part in searches and appealing for information through social media. 

Posting pictures of herself with Miss Squire, friend Rachel Christi wrote: ‘Please help us find my oldest and best friend. Please help us bring her home x.’

Her best friend Lauren Goodman wrote on Twitter: ‘I beg that no one gives up until she is found. She’s been my best friend for the best part of a decade now, and we’ve been through so much together. I just can’t bear to lose her now.’ 

Olivia Hemingway, a student on the same course as Miss Squire, said: ‘She is bright, really really bright. Intimidatingly so, she is so intelligent. She literally used to help me all the time.’ 

Miss Squire moved into her student house with two other flatmates four months ago. It is just around the corner from Barmston Drain, a waterway which has been the scene of numerous drowning tragedies over the years.

Police have been looking through gardens and bins on the streets as they search for clues

Police have been looking through gardens and bins on the streets as they search for clues

Officers have been brought in from around the area to help search the nearby streets

Officers have been brought in from around the area to help search the nearby streets

Forensics officers have been examining a doorway of a property in Wellesley Avenue in Hull

Forensics officers have been examining a doorway of a property in Wellesley Avenue in Hull

Hull university students Leon Caplin and Tom Tully, who live opposite Miss Squire, then saw her being dropped off outside her front door on Wellesley Avenue shortly after 11pm.

Mr Tully, 20, said yesterday: ‘She was too drunk to be on her own. She was very drunk. She was dressed all in black.

‘The taxi dropped her off. She got out and was walking down the street. She fell over a couple of times.’

It is understood she was then seen in the neighbouring Beverley and Beresford Roads either side of midnight.

Local resident Kay Lashley was among those who joined the search. She said: ‘Every day we are looking, but as the days go by it’s just less and less likely she is found.

‘I really hope she is found soon though, just so the poor family can have some closure.’

In a statement released on Sunday, Detective Superintendent Simon Gawthorpe said: ‘There are a number of leads we are following up and I want to offer my thanks to everyone who has come forward with information, your help has been invaluable.

‘We’re trying to trace Libby’s steps and piece together her movements that night.

Libby disappeared after a night out at the 'Welly Club', popular with students in the city

Libby disappeared after a night out at the ‘Welly Club’, popular with students in the city

DS Gawthorpe added ‘We know she got into a taxi outside the Welly Club on Beverley Road at around 11pm on Thursday, 31st January.

‘Libby got out of the taxi a short while later near her home address on Wellesley Avenue, but was later seen on CCTV on Beverley Road, close to the junction with Haworth Street at around 11.45pm.

‘We’re keen to speak to anyone who may have been on Haworth Street, which is almost adjacent to Beresford Avenue, between 11.30pm and 12.30am as part of this line of enquiry, to understand Libby’s movements that night.

‘Officers will be conducting further house to house enquiries in the Beresford Avenue area, Haworth Street and around Beverley Road today and special constables will be out on patrol in the areas.

‘We have specialist teams again out today carrying out searches and we are working with Humberside Fire and Rescue and the Coastguard, who will be around the River Hull.

‘I completely understand people will want to help with the searches, but I would please ask that you instead continue to help us by coming forward with any information, no matter how small or insignificant you think it may be, as it could link together with information we already have and help us to find Libby.

‘We need your help with information to piece together Libby’s movements, to find her and return her home safely to her family.

‘Anyone with information that would help with our investigation should call us on 101 quoting log 29 1 February 2019.’

 

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