(House of Commons)
3 min read
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said it is wrong for politicians to “seek personal profit” from the murder of Henry Nowak.
In a House of Commons statement on Tuesday, Mahmood described the murder as “an act of pure evil”.
Nowak, 18, was handcuffed by police and arrested while he lay dying on the ground in Southampton in December. He told the police officers he could not breathe after having been stabbed by Vickrum Digwa.
Digwa, 23, falsely claimed to officers on the scene that he had been a victim of a racist attack. On Monday, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years for the murder.
The case has prompted strong criticism of the police response.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the police watchdog, has initiated an investigation into the conduct of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary.
Mahmood told MPs that the IOPC would be given the “resources, authority and independence it needs to conduct a “full, fearless and transparent” investigation.
“Everyone in this country is equal before the law. It is the promise upon which our whole justice system rests, and the equality of every citizen is the foundation on which the openness, tolerance, and generosity of this country rests,” she said.
At the same time, the Attorney General’s office is considering whether to review Digwa’s sentence.
The Home Secretary told the House of Commons that the case was not about Sikhism, but about murder.
“We cannot allow this murder to turn communities against one another. We must condemn those who seek personal political profit from tragedy,” she said.
“Instead, we must show who we really are in this country. This is a murder, a vile and violent crime. The punishment must be reserved for those who are responsible for the act. We do not believe in collective punishment in this country.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Nowak’s death was an example of “two-tier culture” in the police in the UK, and that the public should respond with “pure cold rage”. He also called for the end of “anti-white prejudice”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told ITV’s Good Morning Britain there had been an overcorrection in British policing since the murder of George Floyd in the US in 2020. However, she accused Farage of exploiting Nowak’s murder.
“I don’t want to hear about black lives matter. I don’t want to hear about white lives matter. We all matter. Enough of this nonsense where we keep separating everybody and splitting people into different groups, we are descending into tribalism,” she said.
In her statement, Mahmood criticised “misinformation and inflammatory commentary” about the case, telling MPs that a misidentified police officer had been forced to leave his home after receiving death threats.
“Threats against police officers are utterly unacceptable. There can be no justification for intimidation, abuse or attempts to take the law into one’s own hands. A police officer unrelated to this case has been misidentified online and subjected to death threats. He has been forced to relocate to protect himself and his family.
“Misinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation even worse. We must all, together, condemn it,” she said.
Addressing cabinet this morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Nowark was a “kind, thoughtful and much-loved” whose life had been taken in “the most appalling circumstances.”
Starmer said Digwa had “shamelessly lied” about being accused of racism and said it was correct that the IOPC was investigating the police response, which he said needed to be carried out as quickly as possible and answers delivered.