U.K. police are under fire after the release of damning bodycam footage showing the final moments of student Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed after his murderer accused him of racism.
Nowak, 18, was murdered last year by Vickrum Digwa, 23, who fatally stabbed him in the legs and heart with an 8-inch blade he claimed he carried as part of his Sikh faith. Digwa lied to police, claiming he was the victim of a racist attack, causing them to side with him on the scene despite Nowak’s distressed state. Details of the murder gradually trickled out through media reports, the worst of which were confirmed with the release of the bodycam footage on Tuesday.
The newly released footage showed police disregarding the pleas of the pleas of Nowak, who was lying on the ground, while attentively listening to the unharmed Digwa.
At one point, Nowak pleaded, “I’ve been stabbed,” to which the officer responded, “I don’t think you have, mate.”
He repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe, but the police disregarded him. Nowak was handcuffed and read his rights, at which point he lost consciousness. The footage showed his hand was deathly pale from blood loss.
The footage also showed Digwa’s family taking part in the cover-up of Nowak’s stabbing. After hearing his pleas, one of Digwa’s brothers told officers he hadn’t actually been stabbed, to which one officer responded, “I know, but we have to check.” The brother who called the police made up a story that Nowak had attacked the murderer and shouted racial abuse. He also claimed no weapons were involved.
Following an explosion in public interest, Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday, though he was given the possibility of parole after 21 years, meaning he will be eligible at age 43.
Hampshire Deputy Chief Constable Robert France defended the officers’ conduct on the scene, saying that officers began performing CPR three minutes after coming into contact with Nowak.
“This is a complete tragedy, and I am sorry that they couldn’t save Henry that night, and I’m sorry that Henry was handcuffed and arrested as he lost consciousness,” France said.
“The pathologist who spoke in court was clear there was nothing officers could have done that day to save Henry,” France added. “His wound was deep and internal, the bleeding extensive but internal.”
Speaking on Monday in front of the courthouse where Digwa was sentenced, Nowak’s father pointed out the discrepancy between how his son and the murderer were treated.
“Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody,” he said. “The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading. His murderer, however, was afforded decency. He was believed. He was not handcuffed when arrested. He was not handcuffed when transported to the police station.
“As far as we understand, he was never handcuffed at all,” the father continued. “And, as Vickrum Digwa himself told the court, while under arrest for Henry’s murder, police even took him to the kitchen so he could choose his food. The contrast is unbearable.”
Digwa’s brother, father, and mother were all implicated in the murder, but only his mother was directly charged. She was convicted on Thursday of assisting an offender after she was caught hiding the murder weapon.
In a statement, Digwa’s family said they were “deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the Nowak family has had to endure.”
“We would give anything to turn back time so the path of both Henry and Vickrum never crossed that night,” the statement reads. “We cannot change what has happened, we just hope that no further pain is caused in its name.”
Much of the statement focused on the backlash the murder had caused against the Sikh community, but the family apologized “to the Sikh community for our son’s actions which have unfairly brought the community into disrepute” and asked that the “tragedy is not used to inflame division or hostility.”
Concerns of backlash against Sikhs were a central theme of many Labour Party and left-wing responses to the murder, further inflaming outrage.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi focused his ire on the center-right Restore and Reform parties, saying they have “decided to scapegoat and throw under the bus an entire community.”
The judge who sentenced Digwa also focused on backlash against Sikhs, telling Digwa, “Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country, which have made many Sikhs worried about their safety.”
The case drew the attention of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who described the case as “awful” and “shocking.” The crux of his statement, however, was his appeal, “And we must end the cycle of tragedy by tackling the horror of knife crime,” which wasn’t received well.
The UK Reform Party, Nigel Farage’s rapidly growing party, was much more forceful in its response. Farage posted a video statement on X, sending his condolences to Nowak’s family and calling for wider change.
“We need a change in culture, enough of anti-white prejudice,” he said, “a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives, an end to DEI and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law. This is serious. This is urgent. I fear where our society would be in a few short years if we don’t grip this and do it very, very quickly.
“Think of this: the biggest fear a police officer now has going about his or her duty on the street is the fear of being reported for having acted in a way that was racially biased.”
He praised the “dignified” way in which Nowak’s family responded to the murder but said the public should react differently.
“I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage,” Farage said.