The attorney general\u2019s office said it had received \u201cmultiple requests\u201d to review it under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the office said: \u201cWe have received multiple requests for Vickrum Digwa\u2019s sentence to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme.
\u201cThe law officers have 28 days from sentencing to carefully consider the case and make a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Digwa used a kirpan or a religiously sanctioned knife to stab Nowak to death in December 2025.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued via the Sikh Press Association, members of Digwa\u2019s family expressed sorrow for the Nowak\u2019s family\u2019s suffering. They said: \u201cWe love Vickrum. We will continue to love him. That love does not stand in opposition to the sorrow we feel for the Nowak family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe apologise to the Sikh community for our son\u2019s actions which have unfairly brought the community into disrepute. We ask that this tragedy is not used by anyone to inflame division or hostility towards any community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police and crime commissioner for Hampshire is leading calls for a review of religious exemptions on the carrying of knives following the murder.<\/p>\n
Donna Jones described the stabbing of the university student as a \u201cnational tragedy\u201d and said she was writing to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, about the issue.<\/p>\n
Hampshire police released footage from body-worn cameras showing Nowak being handcuffed despite repeatedly telling police officers that he had been stabbed. At one point an officer tells him: \u201cI don\u2019t think you have, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Digwa, who falsely claimed he had been racially abused and attacked by Nowak, is seen lying to police that the teenager knocked his turban off and caused an eye injury.<\/p>\n
Henry Nowak, 18, was walking home from a night out when he was stabbed. Photograph: Hampshire Police\/PA<\/p>\n
Jones said: \u201cHenry was falsely accused of racially aggravated assault as he lay dying on the ground, while his attacker stood by denying the violent act he had inflicted upon him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is devastating the officers did not believe Henry when he said he\u2019d been stabbed and couldn\u2019t breathe. His death is a national tragedy. Central to this incident is the fact that Vickrum Digwa was able to carry a knife in public because there is an exemption for those who observe the Sikh faith to carry ceremonial daggers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI intend to write to the prime minister to request a national review of the laws concerning the carrying of bladed articles under religious exemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Digwa pictured wearing a sheathed knife. Photograph: CPS\/PA<\/p>\n
The Cabinet Office minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said the footage was harrowing, telling the BBC: \u201cThe conduct of the police at the scene is shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he did not suggest the UK government would examine the exemption allowing Sikhs to carry knives.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThere is an exception in terms of carrying bladed articles in public places for particular religious and ceremonial reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd whilst, of course, we\u2019ve been tightening up the law, we\u2019ve banned things like terrible zombie knives, we\u2019ve tightened up the law in terms of online purchasing of knives, it\u2019s not about looking, I think, more broadly at that particular exception.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at what the judge said in this case, the judge actually said that the minute that this perpetrator removed the blade from the sheath, you can forget any sense of there being some sort of exception to the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he also said the fact that this perpetrator was willing to use a bladed article was an abuse of the privilege that Sikhs and indeed other religions have. It was something that made this case worse because of that abuse of that privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
In what he billed as an emergency address to the nation, the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said people should respond with \u201cpure cold rage\u201d and called on the attorney general to review the minimum term Digwa will serve \u2013 20 years and 190 days \u2013 before he can be considered for parole.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAn accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018large Sikh dagger\u2019 that Digwa was carrying in addition to his smaller ceremonial kirpan. Photograph: CPS\/PA<\/p>\n
![\"Vickrum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780396989_270_576.jpg\")
Digwa must serve 20 years and 190 days in prison before he can be considered for parole. Photograph: Hampshire Police\/PA<\/p>\n