Starmer urges quick police watchdog probe into Henry Nowak murder

Press Association Reporters

Sir Keir Starmer said the police watchdog’s investigation into how officers handled the “harrowing” case of murder victim Henry Nowak amid outrage over his treatment must “be carried out as quickly as possible and answers delivered”.

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 in Southampton on December 3, 2025 that he had been the victim of a racist attack.

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, repeatedly pleading “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe” while being handcuffed.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood condemned Digwa’s “evil act” as she told the Commons “we cannot allow this murder to turn communities against one another”.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said investigators, who will meet Mr Nowak’s family, are examining a large amount of body-worn video as well as material presented during Digwa’s trial.

The Prime Minister, who is understood to have seen the footage of the “awful, shocking” incident a number of times, told his Cabinet it is “right” the IOPC is examining officers’ actions.

Sir Keir’s official spokesman said the Prime Minister paid tribute to “kind, thoughtful and much-loved” Mr Nowak, whose life was “ripped away in the most appalling circumstances”.

The spokesman continued: “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.”

Sir Keir “addressed the senselessness of the murder and its impact” at Cabinet because it “goes beyond his family and the local community and his friends to ripple out across the country,” his spokesman said.

Mr Nowak’s father Mark Nowak, speaking after Digwa was sentenced on Monday, said: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.”

But Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said people should respond with “pure cold rage” to Mr Nowak’s treatment, which he said 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 in a video statement.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch 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.”

Sir Keir’s spokesman said there was “no such thing as two-tier policing”.

Asked whether the police should be trained differently, the official declined to “prejudge” the IOPC’s finding, adding: “We’re categorical that the police must treat everyone equally.”

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 Sikh religion.

The Attorney General’s Office is considering the jail sentence given to Digwa after being urged to review it.

A spokesman for Lord Hermer’s office said: “We have received multiple requests for Vickrum Digwa’s sentence to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

“The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to carefully consider the case and make a decision.”

Digwa, his father Moga Singh, 52, and brother Gurpreet Digwa, 27, are to appear in court to face multiple weapons charges on Tuesday afternoon.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight police and crime commissioner Donna Jones said she would write to the Prime Minister to request a national review of the laws concerning the carrying of bladed articles under religious exemptions.

“Central to this incident is the fact that Vickrum Digwa was able to carry a knife in public because there is an exemption for those who observe the Sikh faith to carry ceremonial daggers,” she said.

Asked if there will be a change in the law, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Longstanding legal protections are in place to ensure that Sikhs can carry kirpans as an important article of their faith, but our laws are very clear that any bladed article used to threaten or harm others is illegal.”

Gurnam Singh, a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick, who gave expert evidence on Sikh traditions during the trial, told the Press Association the murder had prompted a “wider safeguarding discussion” among Sikhs and that it was “a bit of a watershed moment for the Sikh community to really take stock”.

Digwa’s relatives have apologised “for the pain and suffering the Nowak family has had to endure” and for bringing the Sikh community into “disrepute”.

Meanwhile, Ms Mahmood said a “dangerous undercurrent” in the wake of the murder had seen death threats towards police who were carrying out “a sacred duty” to “police without fear or favour”.

A police officer wrongly identified as being involved in the case had received death threats and been forced to relocate, the Home Secretary told MPs.