In December 2025, Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old student of Polish descent, was stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old British man of Sikh origin, after a brief encounter between them in Southampton, a city located about 130 km southwest of London.
This Monday, according to information from The Times newspaper, the sentence for the case was issued. Digwa allegedly stabbed Nowak with a Sikh religious knife he was carrying, was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 21 years.
Regarding the crime, Digwa repeatedly lied to the police, falsely claiming to have been the victim of a racist attack. Police officers detained and handcuffed Nowak for about a minute before realizing the severity of his injuries and beginning to provide first aid.
Body camera footage from the police, released after the sentence, shows Nowak lying on the ground, saying “I can’t breathe” and repeating to the officers the phrase “I have been stabbed.”
Upon hearing the student’s information, an officer is heard saying: “I don’t believe it, mate.” The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which examines complaints of police misconduct, confirmed it is investigating the officers’ actions.
In Digwa’s sentence, the case judge, William Mousley, said that Nowak was “a very beloved, kind, hardworking, and ambitious young man.” He described how the university student crossed paths with Digwa by chance while the latter was returning home after a night out on December 3.
The judge noted that Nowak “perhaps made a cheeky comment,” asking if Digwa was “a bad man” – probably in response to seeing Digwa’s knife, which he was carrying in plain sight – while recording with his phone.
Digwa allegedly approached Nowak and said: “I am a bad man” and snatched the phone from him. The judge stated that what happened next was unclear but suggested there may have been a physical struggle when the student tried to retrieve his device. The magistrate indicated it was possible that Digwa’s turban had been hit, pulled, or even punched off.
Then, Digwa drew his knife and stabbed Nowak.
The judge noted that, while it is a strict religious requirement for Sikhs to carry a ceremonial knife – called a kirpan – at all times, Digwa was carrying a second dagger, with a 21-centimeter blade, unlike the small knives usually worn hanging from the neck.
According to the father of the murdered young man, Mark Nowak, his son repeated nine times that he could not breathe.
The victim’s family has demanded a “complete, brave, and transparent” investigation. After the sentence was announced, Mark Nowak appeared before the media to recall his son’s last minutes of life. “Instead of being treated as a dying victim, the police formally arrested Henry and read him his rights. That was the last thing he heard,” he said. “Henry did not die with dignity. He did not die with the care he deserved.”
The convicted man’s mother, Kiran Kaur, was found guilty of helping her son bring the knife used in the murder to the family home. Her sentence is scheduled for July.
The deputy chief of Hampshire police, Robert France, had apologized on Friday, assuring that the officers had been “deceived” by Vickrum Digwa’s “lies.”
The case has become increasingly politicized online. The far-right populist MP Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, claimed that the police’s initial response is proof of “anti-white bias.”
“We live in a two-speed country, where the rights and privileges of whites count less than those of ethnic minorities,” the anti-immigration party leader denounced on Tuesday in a video. “I think we should react to this coldly,” he added, promising to write to the Attorney General to ask him to review the killer’s sentence.
Also on Tuesday, Farage encouraged his followers on social media to “respond with pure and cold rage,” despite the victim’s father’s explicit request not to politicize the case.
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson denounced on X “racist police practices targeting whites.”
Shabana Mahmood, the UK Home Secretary, whose ministry oversees law enforcement, declared before Parliament that the murder was a “vile and violent crime” and that Nowak’s family deserved answers “about what happened that terrible night and the actions of the officers who arrived at the scene.” She described the body camera footage as “disturbing and tragic.”
But she also warned that “misinformation and inflammatory comments are making a terrible situation worse.” This came after a police officer, unrelated to the case, was mistakenly identified online and received death threats, forcing her to be relocated for her safety.
“We cannot allow this murder to pit communities against each other,” Mahmood said. She then added: “We must condemn those who seek to gain personal political advantage from the tragedy.”
Farage compared the footage from the Nowak case with the video of George Floyd’s murder, the African American citizen whose death in May 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparked international outrage and propelled the Black Lives Matter movement.
“What does he say? ‘I can’t breathe.’ Does that sound familiar? Remember the habitual offender George Floyd, who died under terrible circumstances in the Midwest of the United States,” Farage said. He then complained that fewer British politicians had condemned the police treatment of Nowak than those who had spoken out about George Floyd.
In response to Farage’s criticism, British Prime Minister, Labour’s Keir Starmer, accused the far-right leader of politically exploiting Henry Nowak’s murder to generate resentment and division.
According to The Times, Starmer said it was “unforgivable” that Farage disobeyed Nowak’s father’s request that his son’s murder not be used to generate more hatred, division, or tension.
However, the prime minister stated that there were “serious issues that need to be addressed” regarding the police response to Nowak’s stabbing and whether the officers’ decisions were influenced by “accusations of racism.”
The apparent police negligence in the case sparked a violent protest of at least 2,000 demonstrators in Southampton. On this, the Reform UK leader said that the violence and riots that occurred in the city were caused by the loss of public trust in police impartiality and urged Starmer to “put an end to this divisive practice of double policing,” during a confrontation between them in the prime minister’s question session.
Farage added that public outrage risked worsening considerably.
Starmer – the British media pointed out – rejected the claim that there is a two-tier police system and condemned the “shameful and unacceptable” scenes of violence that broke out after a group of people attacked police officers near the place where Nowak was murdered.
And he hinted at blaming Farage for inciting anger, saying “this is a time for serious work, not for rage” and that “there is no justification for more violence and disorder.”
The Labour prime minister declared: “I do not believe there is a two-tier police system in this country. I am enormously surprised that he pretends to respect Henry’s family and then acts this way,” alluding to Farage.
“The family, immersed in grief, has asked us not to respond as the Reform UK leader has. They have lost their son in the most terrible circumstances. They make a simple plea as human beings: please, do not take advantage of their situation. That is their plea,” Starmer continued.
He also directly accused Farage of trying to politically capitalize on the case, stating: “That is his response to a father who has lost his son and begged that this not happen. Exploiting this tragedy to generate resentment and division would be wrong in any circumstance, but doing so when the family expressly asks not to is unforgivable. This shows who he is.”
In contrast, Starmer welcomed the “approach and tone” of the Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, who on Tuesday accused Farage of “fueling” anger and division, and called for “bravery, courage, and calm.”
Starmer added: “It is important in a case like this… that we reflect on our own role as political leaders. It is our duty to unite people at times like this, not to seek to divide them. It is our duty, in particular, to listen to what the devastated family asks of us as political leaders.”
About 2,000 people gathered on Tuesday in front of Southampton’s central police station, where Tommy Robinson – an ultranationalist political activist – and Laurence Fox – actor and leader of the Reclaim Party – addressed the crowd, The Times reported.
Scenes of violence occurred after a large group marched through the city to Portswood, near where Nowak was murdered. Protesters chanted “Henry, Henry” while throwing bricks at the police line.
Chairs, bottles, and flares were thrown at riot police, forcing officers and three police vans to retreat. Hampshire police reported that 11 officers and a police dog were injured.
Former police officer Christi Hill has been the target of a social media campaign and has been forced to “protect her reputation” after her name and photo circulated falsely online accusing her of being a “murderer.” Hill was an officer in Portsmouth for 12 years before leaving the force in April 2024, about 20 months before Nowak’s murder occurred.
Christi Hill has criticized social media and artificial intelligence platforms, including Elon Musk’s Grok, for spreading the false claim that she was one of the officers who arrested Nowak while he was dying after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa.
According to The Guardian, Musk has shown interest in the case, posting on his platform X during the trial that he was willing to fund a private legal action against the officers involved.
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