Murder of Henry Nowak

Henry Nowak was an 18 year old university student from Chafford Hundred, Essex, who was murdered in Southampton on 3 December 2025. He had just finished his first term studying Accounting and Finance at the University of Southampton, where he played on two university football teams and worked part time at a local Morrisons. He was walking home alone after a night out with his football team-mates when he was fatally stabbed by 23 year old Vickrum Singh Digwa, a neighbour he had never met, following a brief and apparently trivial verbal exchange.

The case became a matter of intense national concern not only because of the killing itself but because of what happened immediately afterwards. When police officers reached the scene, Nowak was lying on the ground, conscious and telling them he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Digwa denied stabbing him and falsely claimed that Nowak had assaulted him and used a racial slur. Bodycam footage, later released publicly, showed officers handcuffing Nowak as he lay dying rather than immediately treating him as a stabbing victim, with one officer telling him, "Don't think you have, mate," after he said he had been stabbed. Nowak lost consciousness shortly afterwards and was pronounced dead just after midnight.

Digwa stabbed Nowak five times with a 21 centimetre dagger that he said he carried for Sikh religious reasons as a member of the Nihang order, alongside a smaller kirpan. He was convicted of murder in May 2026 after a jury rejected his claim of self defence, and was sentenced the following month to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years. His mother, Kiran Kaur, was convicted of assisting an offender for hiding the murder weapon, and further weapons charges were later brought against Digwa and other family members.

The release of the bodycam footage in June 2026 triggered political uproar, debate in Parliament, and a protest in Southampton that led to disorder and dozens of arrests. It prompted the police force to refer itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, an inspection commissioned by the local Police and Crime Commissioner, and, on 26 October 2026, an independent review ordered by the Home Secretary and led by former Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk. The case also fuelled a wider national argument over policing standards, religious exemptions to knife laws, and allegations of so called two tier policing.

Nowak's family has spoken publicly and with dignity about their grief, describing how their lives changed twice: once on learning of his death, and again on seeing the footage of his final, conscious moments. They have called for knife law reform and have said they do not want his death used to stoke division. His funeral was held at Brentwood Cathedral in January 2026, attended by 650 people, and he has since been remembered through a charity football match and a memorial run organised by his home running club.