A jury at Southampton Crown Court has found 23-year-old Vikrum Digwa guilty of murdering 18-year-old university student Henry Nowak in one of Britain’s most politically controversial criminal cases this year. Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was also found guilty of assisting an offender after prosecutors accused her of removing the murder weapon from the scene and taking it back to the family home.
The verdict came after jurors had initially failed to reach a decision for two consecutive days amid intense public scrutiny surrounding both the killing itself and the police response to the incident.
Nowak, a first-year accountancy and finance student from Essex, was fatally stabbed on 3 December 2025 in Southampton’s Portswood district. Prosecutors said Digwa used an eight-inch Sikh ceremonial blade, known as a kirpan or shastar, to stab the teenager five times, including a fatal wound to the chest.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Nowak attempted to flee after being attacked, climbing over a fence while leaving a visible blood trail behind him. Prosecutors stated that Digwa aggressively pursued the wounded teenager through the streets before police arrived.
The case triggered nationwide outrage after prosecutors revealed that officers handcuffed the visibly bleeding teenager after Digwa accused him of racial abuse. Prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC described the accusation as a ‘wicked lie about a dying man’, arguing that Digwa used racism as his ‘trump card’ to mislead officers into arresting the victim instead of the attacker.
Shortly after being restrained, Nowak collapsed in the street and died from his injuries.
Following the verdict, Hampshire Police publicly apologized for handcuffing the dying teenager. Deputy Chief Constable Robert France told the Daily Mail: ‘This case is an absolute tragedy. I’m sorry that Henry’s life couldn’t be saved that night, and I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested. He was the victim.’
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has since launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Nowak’s wrongful arrest.
The trial became a major flashpoint in Britain’s ongoing debate over ‘two-tier policing’. Critics argued that police immediately prioritized allegations of racism over providing medical treatment to a severely injured white British teenager. Pressure also mounted for the release of police body camera footage from the scene, particularly after reports emerged that Nowak’s final words included ‘I can’t breathe’ while restrained by officers.
Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood demanding a full investigation into police conduct. ‘There are so many questions surrounding this tragic death that require answers,’ he stated, criticizing what he described as the government’s ‘stony silence’ regarding the case.
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