A COUPLE has told the trial of a butcher accused of raping and murdering Libby Squire how they heard "high-pitched female screams" on the night the student went missing.

Drew Brewster and Hannah Durkin told Sheffield Crown Court they lived in a house backing on to Oak Road playing fields, in Hull.

The prosecution alleges Pawel Relowicz, 26, raped and murdered Ms Squire in the fields.

The couple, who were called by the defence, said they heard the screams at about 12.30am on February 1, 2019.

The prosecution alleges Relowicz had returned home by 12.23am that night after killing Ms Squire.

The Malton butcher, of Raglan Street, Hull, denies murder and rape.

He alleges he had consensual sex with Ms Squire and that she was alive when he left her.

Ms Durkin said: "I heard a high-pitched female scream."

She said that each scream lasted around five to 10 seconds and there was a gap of about 15 or 20 seconds between the screams.

Ms Durkin told the jury: "It sounded panicking. That was my initial thought."

The couple agreed that they debated whether the noises were human screams or the noises of an animal.

Ms Squire's body was found in the Humber Estuary seven weeks after she disappeared after she went missing.

The trial continues.