Libby Squire: Police confirm body found in Humber Estuary is missing student

A body found floating at the mouth of the Humber Estuary has been confirmed as that of Libby Squire, the missing university student.

The 21-year-old vanished suddenly after travelling home alone from a night out with friends in Hull, where she had been studying as an undergraduate, on January 31.

Her remains were first spotted close to Grimsby docks by the coastguard shortly before 2.30pm on Wednesday.

Two RNLI lifeboats from Humber and Cleethorpes were called to help recover the body, which was taken to shore to await the arrival of Humberside Police.

In a grim twist, investigators were not immediately able to establish the gender of the body due to decomposition.

There was speculation the body might not have been Miss Squire’s, as police had other active missing persons investigations in the area relating to two men who separately jumped from the Humber Bridge on December 29.

An initial examination by the coroner’s office in nearby Cleethorpes concluded the remains were likely female and they were moved to Hull for a full post-mortem examination.

Formal identification  confirmed her family’s worst fears.

Police had been officially treating the case as a missing person inquiry, but sources previously told The  Telegraph that detectives believe she was abducted near her university home.

Detective Superintendent Martin Smalley said: "“A post-mortem examination commenced this afternoon and is continuing to be carried out this evening, however formal identification has now taken place and we can confirm the body recovered is that of missing woman Libby Squire.

"An extensive search was carried out in the days and weeks after her disappearance, with detectives and officers working relentlessly to find Libby."

Specialist search teams had spent weeks scouring the River Hull and the Beverley and Barmston Drain close to where Miss Squire lived to establish if she had ended up in the water.

The River Hull, which flows into the tidal Humber Estuary, wraps around the edge of the Oak Road playing fields around 300 yards from Miss Squire’s university digs.

Miss Squire, a second-year philosophy and religion student originally from High Wycombe, Bucks, had been put in a taxi by her friends after she was turned away from the city’s Welly club for being too drunk.

However, she failed to enter her house on Wellesley Avenue when she was dropped off alone - instead walking to sit on a nearby bench until the early minutes of February 1.

Police fear CCTV from a nearby alleyway captured the moment she climbed into a car at 12.09am, before being driven away. She had not been seen since.

Last week, her mother, Lisa, released a poignant statement to mark six weeks since her daughter's disappearance.

She said: “As a family, we are really struggling. The whole family miss Libby beyond belief. 

“Libby’s disappearance is having a big effect on all of us."