{"id":621290,"date":"2026-06-04T19:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/621290\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:17:12","slug":"nowak-murder-police-accused-of-anti-white-bias-five-times-more-likely-to-stop-black-people-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/621290\/","title":{"rendered":"Nowak murder: police accused of \u2018anti-white bias\u2019 five times more likely to stop black people | Police"},"content":{"rendered":"

The police force accused of anti-white racism after officers\u2019 response to the murder of Henry Nowak is over five times more likely to subject black people to a stop and search than white people, according to the latest figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The racial disparity in the Hampshire<\/a> force is higher than the average for England and Wales, and has worsened in recent years.<\/p>\n

Hampshire police have been subjected to claims of \u201ctwo-tier justice\u201d and anti-white bias<\/a> after the murder of Nowak last December in Southampton by Vickrum Digwa<\/a>, who falsely told officers he had been racially abused.<\/p>\n

Digwa had stabbed the 18-year-old repeatedly, but officers arriving at the scene treated the student slumped on the ground as a suspect. He was handcuffed and arrested, despite telling officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe.<\/p>\n

For the last year data was available, Hampshire\u2019s officers were 5.1 times more likely to stop and search someone black than a white person. The average disproportionality rate in England and Wales was 3.8 times.<\/p>\n

Stop and search is a controversial power, with most resulting in no detection of criminality. The fact officers are more likely to use the power against a black person has led to claims of racial bias<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2025-26, officers in the southern England force carried out 15,000 stops, with 60% leading to no further action or advice. The force claimed 6,000 of its stops led to a \u201cpositive outcome\u201d, but did not define what that meant.<\/p>\n

The racial disparity has increased in recent years in Hampshire, with black people 4.8 times more likely to be stopped than a white person in 2024-5, up from 4.1 times in 2023-4. The force has also increased its use of stop and search, up from 12,000 two years earlier.<\/p>\n

In 2021-22, black people in Hampshire were almost eight times more likely to be stopped than white people.<\/p>\n

Police nationally insist stop and search is a vital crimefighting tool, but have pledged to reduce the racial disparity. Hampshire police declined to comment. The force is also 96.4% white<\/a>, compared with 90.6% of the population of the area it serves.<\/p>\n

When asked about two-tier policing on Thursday, the director of the Crown Prosecution Service, Stephen Parkinson, said: \u201cThere is disproportionality in the criminal justice system. There\u2019s an evidential basis for that. We have published research by Leeds University examining prosecution decisions. We updated that the end of last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does demonstrate conclusively that there is disproportionality, by which I mean that there\u2019s a greater likelihood of being prosecuted if you come from an ethnic group that is not white British.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour starting point was two-tier justice, and I think recent publicity has been along the lines of: are people from ethnic minorities favoured in some way? The evidence that I\u2019m aware of around disproportionality goes the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has compared police failings in the Nowak case to those in the 1993 stabbing of Stephen Lawrence by a racist gang who remained free because of police errors and institutional racism.<\/p>\n

Duwayne Brooks, a friend of Lawrence who was with him when he was attacked, has said the treatment of Nowak was the result of lazy policing, not anti-white racism. Brooks, 52, told the Guardian the wider public was now becoming aware of the deficient policing that black people, women and people with disabilities had suffered for decades, and now was being experienced by white people.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe\u2019ve always received lazy policing. Now it is more widespread and more people are experiencing it and a boy lost his life. Police<\/a> have a blase attitude. I have not seen or heard any evidence of anti-white bias in policing. The victim is white, the police officers are white and it is a predominantly white police force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks was 18 when he escaped the gang who fatally stabbed Lawrence. Because the Metropolitan police had initially treated him as a suspect, he said: \u201cI know the pain [Nowak\u2019s] family is feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hampshire Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, has suspended its social media platforms after \u201cserious threats\u201d against its members. It said: \u201cWe had a sudden surge in online trolls and AI going through all platforms trying to find any information they could about our members, with a view to threatening their safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unacceptable. The safety and security of our members is our first priority. Misidentified officers have been forced to leave their homes<\/a> and had serious threats made against their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian has also learned that the final two candidates for one of the highest-ranking posts in policing are both former chief constables of the Hampshire force.<\/p>\n

Whitehall sources confirmed the final two former police chiefs to be interviewed for the role of his majesty\u2019s chief inspector of constabulary were Andrew Marsh, who led Hampshire from 2013 to 2016, and his successor, Olivia Pinkney, who led the force until 2023.<\/p>\n

Marsh leads the College of Policing, and Pinkney would be the first woman to essentially become the government\u2019s chief adviser on policing and leader of the inspectorate, having advised Labour in opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Nowak case is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which this month will meet the murdered teenager\u2019s family to update them on their inquiry.<\/p>\n

The police watchdog is treating officers involved in attending the scene as witnesses, including those who handcuffed Nowak and did not believe he had been stabbed for at least two minutes after he told them.<\/p>\n

The IOPC investigation has found no indication a disciplinary or criminal offence was committed, but says that is under constant review. Alleged police failings would also be examined by an inquest into Nowak\u2019s death held next year with a jury, a coroner ruled on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Anna Isaac<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The police force accused of anti-white racism after officers\u2019 response to the murder of Henry Nowak is over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-621290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}