LONDON – A UK court June 1 jailed a British Sikh man for life for killing a student in a case that sparked anger after police handcuffed the dying victim following a false claim of racial abuse.
A judge at Southampton Crown Court sentenced Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old local resident, to life in prison with an obligation to spend at least 21 years in jail for the killing of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak.
A jury on May 29 found Digwa guilty of murdering the accountancy and finance student on the street in December 2025.
The trial was seized on by prominent figures such as far-right activist Tommy Robinson and SpaceX founder Elon Musk who claimed it showed police bias.
Officers arrested and handcuffed Nowak at the scene after Digwa claimed he had been racially abused. The victim died from stab wounds soon after.
The judge said he was “sure that Henry had said nothing racist”.
The police force has apologised for handcuffing Nowak, and said on May 29 it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog.
The victim’s father, Mark Nowak, said outside court: “Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody. The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading.”
After the verdict, a right-wing group, Turning Point UK, posted footage of its leader speaking at a protest on May 29 outside a police station in Southampton.
A far-right group, White Vanguard, held a small “vigil” in Southampton on May 31, according to campaign group Stand Up to Racism, which held a counter-protest.
Digwa used a large knife he wore in a sheath attached to a belt outside his clothing to carry out the murder while also wearing a small Sikh ceremonial dagger, or kirpan, said the judge, William Mousley.
The Sikh Federation said the weapon used by Digwa “was not a kirpan”, which can be legally carried as an article of faith.
The Sikh Federation said claims that Digwa killed Nowak using the ceremonial dagger “unnecessarily brought our sacred kirpan into disrepute and increased verbal and physical abuse against Sikhs in the last couple of weeks”.
The prosecution service denied calling the murder weapon a kirpan. AFP
