Forty-nine days after Hull student Libby Squires went missing, pieces of the tragic puzzle finally started to emerge.

Despite it being treated as a missing person case, hundreds of police officers have been involved in investigations, combing the East Yorkshire city to search for the 21-year-old.

Seven weeks of uncertainty about her fate began coming to an end on March 20, when, at around 2.30pm, the coastguard spotted what appeared to be human remains in the Humber Estuary.

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

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 late on Thursday night confirmed her family’s worst fears.

It brings the first semblance of clarity to a mystery that hung heavy over the East Yorkshire city - and all who knew the student - since she disappeared without a trace.

On the eve of the seventh day of the investigation, an arrest was made. Detectives took Paweł Rełowicz, a 24-year-old Polish father-of-two, into custody on suspicion of abduction, but was later released, charged with a number of unrelated allegations.