Farage demands ‘pure cold rage’ in response to murder of Henry Nowak

David Hughes and Mathilde Grandjean, Press Association

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said people should respond with “pure cold rage” to the treatment of Henry Nowak.

The 18-year-old student was handcuffed as he lay dying after being fatally stabbed by a Sikh man.

The killer of finance student Mr Nowak, 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, told police attending the scene of the stabbing on December 3 2025, that he had been the victim of a racist attack.

On Monday, Digwa was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 21 years for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade prosecutors said was a kirpan, which he carried as part of his religion.

Body-worn camera footage from the incident appeared to show Mr Nowak, who had received two stab wounds on the back his legs and a fatal wound to his heart, pleading, “I’ve been stabbed” while being handcuffed.

In the footage released by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary on Monday night, a police officer arriving at the scene can be heard asking: “What’s your name, mate?” before Mr Nowak, who is lying on his back on the ground, faintly replies: “Henry.”

Digwa then steps into the frame claiming Mr Nowak had taken his turban off and grabbed him by the hair.

The officer asks Digwa: “Are you injured?” to which Digwa replies: “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a swollen eye here, a little bruise here.”

Officers then turn to Mr Nowak who can be heard grunting and repeating “I’ve been stabbed” and then “I can’t breathe” while he is made to sit up to be handcuffed.

The officer can be heard asking: “You’ve been stabbed, whereabouts?” before adding: “Don’t think you have, mate.”

While being handcuffed, Mr Nowak says “I can’t breathe” another three times.

The officer can be heard saying: “He says he’s been stabbed, so let’s just check him” and appears to briefly lift his shirt around the belt area before Mr Nowak is left to lie on his side.

A female officer can then be heard asking: “Where do you think he’s been stabbed? In the face?” to which a male voice replies: “He hasn’t been stabbed.”

Mr Nowak, who seems unresponsive, is then told he is being arrested for assault.

“He’s going to be sick, I think,” the officer says.

Another officer appears to be leaning over Mr Nowak to check on him, and the female officer can be heard asking – presumably on the police radio – “We’ve got this male, he’s been beat up and – are we able to get an ambulance, please?”

At the end of the footage, a light appears to be shone in Mr Nowak’s face, and a female voice says: “His pupils aren’t even reacting.”

In a video statement, Mr Farage said the treatment of Mr Nowak was evidence of a “two-tier culture”.

Mr Nowak was “actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder”.

He said he had asked the attorney general to review the life sentence with a minimum of 21 years given to Digwa as being unduly lenient.

Mr Farage said: “Henry’s family have responded to this in just the most extraordinarily dignified way.

“But I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage.

“This is wrong. All the values and standards of living in a free country where everybody is judged equally before the law have been trashed and thrown away.”

He said there needed to be an end to “anti-white prejudice” and a recognition that “white lives matter just as much as black lives”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Mr Farage of deepening divisions as she argued that police should treat everyone equally regardless of race.

She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Nigel Farage is taking sides.

“I’m not taking sides. I’m saying enough of this. We need to stop this racialising of our society…

“No two-tier policing, no believing that racism only happens to ethnic minorities. 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.

“We need to root it out of the system.”

The officers who were called to the murder scene are still being treated as witnesses by watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

IOPC director Derrick Campbell said: “We acknowledge that this case has raised questions about the actions of the attending officers and we are aware that a few minutes of police body-worn footage has been issued by the force following the conclusion of criminal proceedings.

“As part of our ongoing investigation we are reviewing a large amount of police body-worn footage, which we need to consider in context with other evidence we have obtained, including reviewing material presented during the murder trial, as we establish the full circumstances.

“Now that criminal proceedings have concluded, we are planning to meet with Mr Nowak’s family and provide them with updates about our investigation.”