Henry Nowak’s Murder Is The Tragic Endpoint Of Ideological Insanity

“I can’t breathe.” Those words were repeated over and over by Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old student murdered in Southampton last year, in footage recently released by the Hampshire Constabulary.

Instead of helping him, as he repeatedly tells the police officers that he has been stabbed, a policeman says, “I don’t think you have, mate.” They drag him across some gravel, handcuff him, and read him his rights. Shortly afterward, Henry dies.

His murderer, Vickrum Digwa, was present, but the police did not handcuff him. He was allowed to go home with the police and pick out some food to eat. He had falsely accused Henry of a racist attack on him, leading to accusations of two-tier policing, where claims of racism were prioritized over a dying man’s cries for help.

The events took place last December, but the court case has only just finished.

Henry was in his first year at university, the first in his family to attend. He was walking back to his accommodation alone when he met Vickrum, who claims Henry barged into him. The judge called that “one of the many lies you have told.” Whatever did happen, there was an altercation during which Vickrum stabbed Henry.

The murder weapon has widely been reported to be a kirpan, a blade carried by Sikhs as a religious requirement. Many Sikhs meet this requirement by concealing a small knife in their clothing or wearing it around the neck, or by wearing a pin on their turban. Those who do carry a blade are covered by a legal exemption, subject to certain requirements. Vickrum carried one of these, as well as a second, much larger kirpan, a tradition observed by some Sikhs.

It was this larger blade that he used to stab Henry in the chest, catching a lung and cutting an important vein behind the collar bone. The 8cm deep wound bled profusely, with the pathologist finding over 2 pints of blood in Henry’s chest cavity.

The attack didn’t stop there. Vickrum stabbed him twice more in the upper leg, once in the lower abdomen, and slashed Henry’s face. Although Vickrum can be seen on the bodycam video telling the police that he had a small bruise and swelling, the judge said there was no independent evidence that he’d been injured at all.

Henry tried to escape. He scaled a fence and fell into the neighboring property. Despite this, Vickrum callously took out his phone and filmed Henry dying. When Vickrum’s brother arrived, he lied that Henry had used a racial slur and attacked him.

His mother and father arrived next. Vickrum told his mother that she should take away the knife used in the murder, which she did. His father, alone of the family members there, tried to help Henry as he was dying.

When the police arrived, Henry must have hoped that finally help was there. Instead, he had to listen as Vickrum continued to tell “wicked lies” about how he’d been the victim of a racist attack and to deny that Henry had been stabbed. The police treated Henry like the criminal, and he died there, drowned in his own blood, without anyone to offer him comfort.

In the aftermath, the police found that Vickrum had stolen Henry’s phone, which contained incriminating evidence. They were able to secretly record a conversation between Vickrum and his brother in Punjabi, during which Vickrum said he would falsely claim he had acted in self-defense. He was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years before he can apply for parole.

In court, Digwa’s family reportedly accused the Nowaks of racism. Afterward, they put out a statement, asking people not to “inflame division.” Yet it was the Digwas who accused Henry of racism and, in doing so, inflamed division themselves.

This crime has reignited the debate about two-tier policing. Like many British police forces, Hampshire Constabulary has a Race Action Plan, which is focused on racism against ethnic minorities.

As a serving police officer told Daily Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson, this is not just about the atmosphere in which the police operate. There can be different procedures by race, with stop and search of ethnic minorities reviewed within 24 hours, whereas the stop and search of a white person would be reviewed much later.

Success in the police often depends on complying with these DEI initiatives, with those seeking senior roles grilled on how they have enacted DEI policies. Failure to comply will mean a curtailed career.

All of this goes back to the Macpherson report in 1999, into the racist murder of a black teen by white criminals. The police were branded as “institutionally racist”, despite the report only finding incompetence rather than overt racism. That has been held over the police for years.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has argued that Nowak was treated differently because of the color of his skin. He called for “pure cold rage” in response.

Amazingly, the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation has so far not found any evidence of police misconduct. That will only increase the demand for wider reforms to deal with the baleful influence of so-called anti-racism in society, which, in this case, as in so many others, has ended up meaning discrimination against white people.

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Guy Dampier is a senior researcher on Nationhood at the Prosperity Institute.