Fresh scrutiny is falling on how police responded in the final moments of Henry Nowak’s life, after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said a watchdog inquiry into officers’ conduct will report within three months.
Mr Nowak, an 18-year-old student, was handcuffed as he lay dying after being stabbed by a Sikh man with a ceremonial knife.
His killer, 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, told police attending the scene in Southampton on 3 December 2025 that he had been the victim of a racist attack.
Yesterday, Digwa was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum sentence of 21 years for the murder.
Body-worn camera footage from the incident appeared to show Mr Nowak, who had received two stab wounds on the back of his legs and a fatal wound to his heart, pleading: “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe” while being handcuffed.
Watch: Bodycam footage shows police handcuffing Henry Nowak
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said its investigators, who will meet Mr Nowak’s family, are reviewing extensive body-worn video footage alongside material aired during Digwa’s trial.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the watchdog probe must “be carried out as quickly as possible and answers delivered”.
Mr Starmer, who is understood to have watched footage of the “awful, shocking” incident several times, told cabinet colleagues it is “right” that the IOPC is examining officers’ actions.
His spokesman said the prime minister paid tribute to the “kind, thoughtful and much-loved” student whose life was “ripped away in the most appalling circumstances”.
The spokesman added: “The prime minister said that in his last harrowing moments, Henry was then handcuffed by the police as he lay dying on the floor.
“The prime minister said it was right that the IOPC was investigating the police response, which he said needed to be carried out as quickly as possible and answers delivered, and said the thoughts of the whole cabinet were with Henry’s family today.”
The blade used to kill Henry Nowak (Pic: Crown Prosecution Service)
Ms Mahmood called the use of a ceremonial weapon in the attack a “vile act” while cautioning that others who share Digwa’s faith should not be blamed for a killing they did not commit.
In the wake of the case, some have urged a review of the law governing religious defences for carrying blades.
Ms Mahmood said she would speak with Sikh community leaders about how to strike the balance between religious freedom and public protection, though she indicated she was not minded to open a formal review.
She told the House of Commons that carrying a ceremonial knife in certain circumstances can be lawful, but using it to commit an offence is not.
“Let me be clear, carrying a knife for the purpose of religious observance is one thing.
“Using it, as so tragically occurred in this case, is quite another.
“It is a vile act, a crime of the utmost severity, and it will be met with the severest punishment.”
Ms Mahmood said: “The wider question is something that is worthy of serious consideration”, arguing it would require engagement with Sikh community representatives, knife crime campaigners and police.
“That, I think, is the right way to proceed, rather than launching a formal review, because actually, as the judge found in this case, this was not an act of religious observance.
“The minute that knife was unsheathed to be used, it became a murder weapon, and the murderer has now faced the full force of the law,” she said.
Ms Mahmood said the Offensive Weapons Act of 2019 had “clarified and strengthened” legal protections relating to kirpan blades.
“This included extending defences, so that kirpans can be lawfully possessed for religious reasons and used in religious and ceremonial contexts,” she added.
Vickrum Digwa was ordered to serve a minimum sentence of 21 years (Pic: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the case carried “troubling consequences” and pointed to what he described as a “two-tier culture”.
“Sikhs are permitted to carry as many and as large a weapon as they like on the streets of Britain without any good cause,” he wrote in a letter to Attorney General for England and Wales Richard Hermer.
Mr Farage said in a video statement that Mr Nowak was “treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Mr Farage of worsening divisions, insisting police should apply the law equally regardless of race.
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain there should be “no two-tier policing, no believing that racism only happens to ethnic minorities”.
She added: “It happens to everyone. And the police need to be trained like that, not with the terrible anti-racism training, which is just reverse racism and reverse discrimination.”
Asked whether police training should change, Mr Starmer’s spokesman said he would not “prejudge” the IOPC’s findings, adding: “We’re categorical that the police must treat everyone equally.”
The attorney general’s office is considering the jail sentence handed to Digwa after being urged to review it.
