Nowak\u2019s killer, Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist assault by 18-year-old Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/police-and-henry-nowak-CNC4DOE6ABCLHHDH3HGPKQWSCQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
(Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the case had left \u201cserious questions to answer, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking”. But he called the street violence \u201cdisgraceful and completely unacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Nowak’s family had “made a powerful call to us all yesterday to not let Henry\u2019s death be used to create further division, hatred or tension.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder. Those responsible can expect to face the full force of the law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder and sentenced Monday (local time) to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years. The judge said he didn\u2019t believe Nowak had said anything racist to his attacker.<\/p>\n
Police detained the wrong person after Henry Nowak\u2019s assailant lied to officers.\u00a0 (Source: BBC)<\/p>\n
After the sentencing, police released video showing officers dismissing Nowak when he told them he had been stabbed and repeatedly said he couldn\u2019t breathe.<\/p>\n
The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates allegations of police wrongdoing, is probing the actions of the officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council said it will review its anti-racism guidance in the wake of the killing.<\/p>\n
After the sentencing hearing, the victim\u2019s father, Mark Nowak, said the case was not about racism or religion, and that he wanted his son\u2019s death to lead to safer streets and not to be used to create \u201cfurther division, hatred or tension\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, said on Tuesday (local time) that it was an example of so-called two-tier policing \u2014 a popular far-right talking point that claims ethnic minorities are better treated than white people.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/people-protest-outside-the-police-station-in-southampton-eng-Z2GPUAEXGBBXTINNDXMT24J4RQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
People protest outside the police station in Southampton, England, on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, one holding a photo of December 2025 stabbing victim Henry Nowak, 18. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Farage urged people to respond to the incident with \u201cpure cold rage\u201d, and said, \u201cwhite lives matter just as much as Black lives\u201d. X owner Elon Musk and British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, have also expressed outrage at the crime.<\/p>\n
Starmer said Farage’s \u201cappeal for rage\u201d was \u201cunforgivable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe there\u2019s two-tier policing in this country,” he said in the House of Commons. \u201cI\u2019m really shocked that he pretends to have respect for Henry\u2019s family and then acts in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wake of the killing, some politicians have called for Sikhs to be banned from carrying ceremonial knives, known as kirpans. The judge said Digwa had a small kirpan but also had a 21-centimetre sheathed Sikh dagger that was used as the weapon to kill Nowak.<\/p>\n
Hampshire Police chief constable Alexis Boon said he understood the \u201cdesire for answers and accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that must be done in the right way and not used as an excuse to threaten and intimidate my officers and bring violence to our streets, causing fear and harm to those living and working in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s interior minister accused activists of hijacking a tragedy to stir up violence after police were attacked at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-459402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}