Murder of Henry Nowak

For other people named Henry Nowak, see Henry Nowak (disambiguation).

Murder of Henry Nowak
Nowak on CCTV shortly before his murder
Location	Southampton, Hampshire, England
Date	3 December 2025 c. 11:30 pm
Attack type	Stabbing
Weapon	Shastar knife
Victim	Henry Nowak
Perpetrator	Vickrum Digwa
Convicted	Vickrum Digwa Kiran Kaur

On 3 December 2025, Henry Nowak, an 18‑year‑old British university student, was murdered by Vickrum Digwa in Southampton, England. Digwa, a 23-year-old British Sikh man, cut and stabbed Nowak a total of five times with a knife. When police officers from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary arrived, Digwa accused Nowak of assault, and officers handcuffed Nowak. Police body‑worn camera footage showed Nowak repeatedly telling officers that he had been stabbed and pleading for help. He died shortly after being handcuffed.

Shortly before the stabbing, Nowak had filmed Digwa walking away from him during a verbal altercation. Digwa maintained that he acted in self-defence after Nowak continued pursuing him, made racist remarks, and punched him. Prosecutors argued that these allegations were baseless and fabricated in an attempt to justify the stabbing.

The jury convicted Digwa of murder on 28 May 2026. Digwa's mother, Kiran Kaur, was found guilty of assisting an offender. The judge rejected Digwa's accusations that Nowak had physically or racially abused him. Digwa received a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years. The police response to the crime, recorded on body‑worn cameras, was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Murder

CCTV footage of Nowak entering and leaving the Hobbit pub in Bevois Valley

Henry Nowak was an 18-year-old British-Polish student in his first year studying accountancy at the University of Southampton. He grew up in Chafford Hundred, Essex.

On the evening of 3 December 2025, some time before 11:30 pm, Nowak was walking in the area of Belmont Road in the Portswood suburb of Southampton. He had been drinking at the Hobbit Pub but was under the drink-drive limit.

Nowak then began filming Vickrum Digwa. Video recovered from Nowak's phone captured him saying "Hello car" and singing to himself before yawning, while Digwa walked away from him. Nowak continued: "Innit bad man, what bad man. You're a bad man, say you're a bad man, go on." Digwa, still walking away in the Snapchat video, replied: "I am a bad man", and Nowak said "Are you a b....", before the footage ends. Digwa inflicted five "stab wounds or cuts" on Nowak, including a fatal wound to the chest and additional wounds to his legs using the 21-cm (8 inch) blade he was carrying. Neighbours called the police after hearing Nowak calling out that he had been stabbed and was dying; there were no eyewitnesses. Nowak attempted to get away by climbing onto a bin and then over a fence. He had already suffered fatal injuries; a blood trail indicated he had already been stabbed. Digwa called his parents, who arrived before police. Kiran Kaur took the knife and hid it at their home. Digwa filmed Nowak fleeing, and made another video as he lay dying; both were cited as aggravating factors at sentencing.

When Hampshire Police officers arrived, they spoke to Digwa while Nowak lay on the ground having been stabbed. Body‑worn camera footage shows Nowak repeatedly stating that he had been stabbed and could not breathe. At one point, Nowak said "I've been stabbed", to which the male officer wearing the camera replied, "Don't think you have, mate." Nowak became unresponsive before any call for emergency medical services was made.

Digwa told officers that Nowak was drunk, had punched him, racially abused him, and pulled his turban off, and the officers subsequently handcuffed Nowak. Nowak told officers he had been stabbed but was told he had not been. His last words were "Please, brother, I can't breathe." When he collapsed, officers administered first aid, but Nowak died at the scene at 12:37 am.

Police allowed Digwa to meet his brother. In a covertly recorded conversation in Punjabi, the brother advised him to claim self‑defence. Digwa said he would not be able to claim self‑defence if there were security cameras on the street.

Trial

At Southampton Crown Court, Digwa pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter, and carrying a knife in public. Judge William Mousley instructed the jury to consider manslaughter as an alternative to murder, explaining that if a person did not intentionally cause the fatal injury or did not intend to kill or cause serious harm, they would not be guilty of murder. Kaur was charged with assisting an offender by removing the weapon; she pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg told the jury that Nowak's blood alcohol level was below the drink-drive limit and that he had been filming a Snapchat video capturing Digwa walking away from him prior to the stabbing. The footage was shown to the jury. Lobbenberg said that after the stabbing, Digwa had "chose to aggressively pursue" Nowak, but acknowledged that "the killing wasn’t seen by anyone other than Henry and Vickrum Digwa".

In court, when asked why he had not told the police that he stabbed Nowak, Digwa said he was scared because it was the "first time anything like this had ever happened". He alleged that Nowak had earlier threatened him with racist remarks and then began recording him. In his account, after being taunted, he grabbed the phone and a fight broke out, during which Nowak said "I'm going to kill you". Digwa said he acted in self-defence. He further testified that his mother and father arrived at the scene and took the knife back to their home. Defence barristers told the jury they had to consider whether Digwa had acted "in the heat of the moment".

Digwa was carrying two ceremonial knives at the time of the murder: a smaller one known as a kirpan under his clothing, and a 'large Sikh dagger', which was used as the murder weapon. Gurnam Singh, a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick, said in court that the external weapon was worn as a sign of membership of the Nihang order, and said there was "no good reason" to wear the larger blade, as it is not a strict requirement of the faith.

On 27 May, the jury retired to consider a verdict. On 28 May 2026, it rejected the claims of self-defence and found Digwa guilty of murder, and Kaur guilty of assisting an offender. Digwa was sentenced on 1 June, with Kaur to be sentenced on 17 July.

In sentencing on 1 June, the judge said that Digwa's claim of being barged by Nowak was a lie, but that Nowak "cheekily" called him a "bad man". The judge said he was sure Nowak had not said anything racist and that Digwa had no injuries. He said Digwa had given a "convincing but wholly false narrative of the incident". The judge said Digwa had brought shame on his family and other Sikhs and caused racial tension. He received a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years.

Reactions

American billionaire Elon Musk called the police officers "disgusting" and demanded they be fired. He also offered to fund a wrongful death lawsuit and a private prosecution against the officers involved.

Robert Jenrick of Reform UK raised the incident in the House of Commons. He called it a scandal, asked what the Home Secretary was doing to investigate police conduct, and requested a debate on what he described as "two-tier policing". He also said that Reform UK would seek to ban ceremonial knives from being carried in public. Suella Braverman, also of Reform UK and a former Conservative Home Secretary, called for the release of the police body‑worn camera footage.

The Supreme Sikh Council, an umbrella organisation representing Sikh community leaders across the UK, announced that it would convene to review safeguards around the carrying of ceremonial knives, alongside a strengthened educational campaign on Sikh responsibilities. The UK Sikh Federation wrote to Shabana Mahmood after reporting a "huge increase" in anti-Sikh hate crimes following the trial, asking for strengthened legislation. After sentencing, a local gurdwara said it had banned Digwa "long ago" for his conduct.

Temporary deputy chief constable Robert France of Hampshire Constabulary said: "The facts heard in court should leave no doubt in anyone's mind who was lying to officers that night, and why we didn't immediately understand what had happened."

Nowak's family called his treatment by police "inhumane and degrading", and, despite the "shocking actions" of the police, they expressed their "heartfelt gratitude" to the murder investigation team.

After sentencing, Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the murder as an "awful, shocking case" and welcomed the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation. Nowak's father said that while he held only Digwa responsible for the murder, the way his son had been treated by police was "inhumane and degrading". He said Digwa was not handcuffed at the scene and may never have been handcuffed at all.

On 2 June 2026, Hampshire Police released body‑worn camera footage showing the officers' arrival, their interactions with Digwa and Nowak, and Nowak's death after being handcuffed.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the House of Commons that the "police appeared more concerned with the accusation of racism than they were with helping Henry".

Following the release of the footage, Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said that Britain had a "two tier culture where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities".

External links

• Sentencing remarks