{"id":656396,"date":"2026-06-24T21:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656396\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T21:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:43:08","slug":"police-officers-took-eight-minutes-to-discover-henry-nowaks-stab-wound-evidence-shows-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656396\/","title":{"rendered":"Police officers took eight minutes to discover Henry Nowak\u2019s stab wound, evidence shows | Police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police officers who arrested Henry Nowak took about eight minutes to discover his stab wound, newly released evidence shows.<\/p>\n

Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for life<\/a> with a minimum term of 21 years for Nowak\u2019s murder after falsely claiming the 18-year-old had racially abused him in Southampton. Nowak was stabbed multiple times while walking back to his student accommodation alone after a night out.<\/p>\n

A three-minute police body-worn video was released showing Nowak, from Chafford Hundred in Essex, being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died in December 2025. The footage led to violent protests in the city.<\/p>\n

A longer transcript of the footage released by the Crown Prosecution Service, obtained by the BBC, reveals the moment that officers realised Nowak had been stabbed.<\/p>\n

In the footage from the incident, Nowak can be heard repeatedly saying: \u201cI\u2019ve been stabbed,\u201d to which an officer replies: \u201cYou\u2019ve been stabbed? Whereabouts? Don\u2019t think you have, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The officer later says \u201che\u2019s saying he\u2019s been stabbed so let\u2019s just check him and see\u201d, and a female police officer calls for an ambulance, describing how the student\u2019s pupils are not reacting before the video ends.<\/p>\n

In the transcript an officer identified as police officer one said: \u201cI\u2019m not sure he\u2019s breathing.\u201d They uncuff Nowak and start CPR.<\/p>\n

Police officer one then says: \u201cCome on mate. That\u2019s it, that\u2019s it. Keeping breathing. Come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the timestamps, between five minutes and 24 seconds and seven minutes and 33 seconds, a female police officer asks for a torch, wanting to make sure Nowak has not been stabbed, and asks for scissors.<\/p>\n

After seven minutes and 33 seconds, the officer cuts his clothing and police officer one asks if he has been stabbed there, with an unseen gesture.<\/p>\n

The female officer replies: \u201cYes, he\u2019s got a stab \u2026 there\u2019s a mark there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police officer one adds: \u201cThat makes it worse. He\u2019s got a stab \u2026 I\u2019m pushing on a fucking stab wound.\u201d<\/p>\n

The female officer says: \u201cThat\u2019s OK. It\u2019s fine \u2026 It\u2019s not coming out. It\u2019s fine. Keep going. Keep going. It\u2019s not bleeding out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police officer one continues chest compressions and then a paramedic arrives. The officer tells him: \u201cWe just discovered a stab wound in his chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recording was released with no objection from Nowak\u2019s family after consultation with Hampshire<\/a> police.<\/p>\n

After the case, Robert France, Hampshire\u2019s temporary deputy chief constable, apologised on behalf of the officers. He added that they were \u201clied to\u201d and would have been unaware of Nowak\u2019s injury which he said would not have been obvious.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis is an absolutely tragic case, and my sympathies are absolutely with Henry\u2019s family, his friends, and his loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to apologise, I want to say that I am sorry that Henry couldn\u2019t be saved that night. I\u2019m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating Hampshire police\u2019s response to the incident.<\/p>\n

The jury inquest into Nowak\u2019s death next year at Winchester coroner\u2019s court will look at whether any \u201cact or omission by a police officer\u201d caused or contributed to his death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police officers who arrested Henry Nowak took about eight minutes to discover his stab wound, newly released evidence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-656396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656396","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=656396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}