The British home secretary told Parliament on Tuesday that she fully supported the country\u2019s police watchdog in investigating why several officers handcuffed a college student while he lay dying, in a murder case that shocked the country.<\/p>\n
Henry Nowak, 18, was stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in December 2025, after the two men had a brief interaction in Southampton, a city in southern England. Mr. Digwa, who is Sikh and stabbed Mr. Nowak with a religious knife he was carrying, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 21 years, on Monday.<\/p>\n
Mr. Digwa lied to the police at the scene of the murder repeatedly, falsely claiming that he had been the victim of a racist attack. Police officers arrested and handcuffed Mr. Nowak for about a minute, according to the judge who sentenced Mr. Digwa, before they realized he was severely injured and began administering first aid.<\/p>\n
Police body camera footage released on Monday after the sentencing showed Mr. Nowak lying on the ground, saying \u201cI can\u2019t breathe\u201d and telling officers repeatedly that he had been stabbed. One police officer can be heard saying, \u201cI don\u2019t think you have, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which examines reports of police wrongdoing, confirmed it is investigating<\/a> the police officers\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n The case has been increasingly politicized online, with the right-wing populist lawmaker Nigel Farage claiming the police\u2019s initial response was evidence of \u201canti-white prejudice.\u201d He encouraged his social media followers on Tuesday to \u201crespond with pure cold rage.\u201d Elon Musk has posted multiple times in recent weeks about the case.<\/p>\n Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, whose office oversees law enforcement, told Parliament<\/a> that the murder was a \u201cvile and violent crime\u201d and said that Mr. Nowak\u2019s family deserved answers \u201cabout what happened on that awful night and the actions of the police officers who arrived on the scene.\u201d She described the body camera footage as \u201cdisturbing and tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n But she also warned that \u201cmisinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation worse.\u201d After one police officer unrelated to the case had been misidentified online, she said, he had received death threats and had to be relocated for his safety.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot allow this murder to turn communities against one another,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cWe must condemn those who seek personal political profit from tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n