{"id":74150,"date":"2026-07-01T12:47:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/74150\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:47:34","slug":"two-uk-police-officers-face-misconduct-probe-in-henry-nowak-murder-case-race-issues-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/74150\/","title":{"rendered":"Two UK police officers face misconduct probe in Henry Nowak murder case | Race Issues News"},"content":{"rendered":"

IOPC says it is investigating whether race or religion impacted any of the officers\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n

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Published On 1 Jul 20261 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Two United Kingdom police officers who handcuffed a stabbing victim as he lay dying are being investigated for potential gross misconduct,\u00a0 the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) says.<\/p>\n

Henry Nowak, 18, was fatally stabbed in Southampton, England, in December by Vickrum Digwa, a British Sikh, who then lied to police at the scene, falsely claiming he had been the victim of a racist attack.<\/p>\n

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Officers accepted Digwa\u2019s account and treated Nowak as a suspect rather than a victim. Police body-camera footage showed Nowak\u2019s pleas of being unable to breathe going unanswered.<\/p>\n

The footage of the incident prompted protests, political debate and questions about how police treat different ethnic groups after Digwa was sentenced last month to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.<\/p>\n

The IOPC said in a statement on Wednesday that the two officers were informed of the ongoing investigation, adding that the \u201cevidence indicates that both officers may have potentially breached the professional behaviour standards of duties and responsibilities, use of force, and discreditable conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese relate to potential failures by the officers to recognise that Henry needed urgent medical attention, to immediately act after he said he had been stabbed and he couldn\u2019t breathe, and the decision to arrest and handcuff Henry rather than provide immediate first aid,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also an indication one of the officers may have breached the standard relating to authority, respect and courtesy, for appearing to dismiss Henry saying he had been stabbed,\u201d the IOPC said.<\/p>\n

It also said it was\u00a0investigating whether race or religion impacted any of the officers\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n

\"henry\"Police footage shows the arrest of Henry Nowak after he was stabbed on December 3, 2025 [Screengrab\/Handout\/Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary via Reuters]<\/p>\n

IOPC Director of Engagement Derrick Campbell said: \u201cTwo officers will now face gross misconduct investigations. There is clear evidence that public confidence in the force may have been seriously harmed by this incident, and that is a factor we must consider when assessing the evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of our investigation, we will decide whether any officers should face disciplinary proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Far-right activists and commentators have used the case to further their claims that there are double standards, or \u201ctwo-tier policing\u201d, in the UK\u2019s justice system that prioritises allegations of racism.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside the court after the sentencing last month, Nowak\u2019s father, Mark, criticised the \u201cinhumane and degrading\u201d treatment of his son by the police.<\/p>\n

However, he added: \u201cWe do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to help make our streets safer for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IOPC says it is investigating whether race or religion impacted any of the officers\u2019 actions. Published On 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[61,252,18,33,28018,251,5,6],"class_list":["post-74150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-crime","tag-europe","tag-news","tag-police","tag-race-issues","tag-the-far-right","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116844799172874173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}