UK Police Handcuffed This 18-Year-Old Student As He Lay Dying From Being Stabbed, Sparking Outrage
Police bodycam footage showed Nowak telling officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe as they handcuffed and arrested him.
On June 2, hundreds of people protested in Southampton, UK, after police released bodycam footage of officers handcuffing 18-year-old British-Polish student Henry Nowak as he lay dying after being stabbed.
Nowak, a first-year student at the University of Southampton, was walking home from a night out with friends on Dec. 3, 2025, when he was stabbed five times by 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa,a British Sikh man.
Digwa was carrying two ceremonial knives, including a small knife under his clothing and a 21 cm dagger he used to stab Nowak, including once fatally in the chest.
A Snapchat video recovered from Nowak’s phone showed Nowak, who was under the drink-driving limit, singing to himself while Digwa walked away from him before asking Digwa if he was a "bad man".
Digwa replied that he was and took Nowak's phone before the attack.
There were no eyewitnesses.
Digwa's brother called police and lied to them, saying Digwa was the victim of a racial attack.
Digwa also called his parents, who arrived before police, and his mother took his knife and hid it in their house.
When police arrived, Digwa falsely told them Nowak was drunk and had racially abused him, punched him and knocked off his turban.
Police bodycam footage showed Nowak telling officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe as they handcuffed and arrested him.
After police realized the severity of Nowak’s condition, they removed the handcuffs, called an ambulance and began CPR, but Nowak died at the scene.
On June 1, Digwa was sentenced to life in prison for murder and must serve at least 21 years.
His mother was also found guilty of assisting an offender and is to be sentenced on July 17.
The case sparked national outrage over the police’s response, with the force apologizing and referring itself for investigation the day after Nowak died.
The case has been seized on by far-right figures, who have used Nowak’s death to push claims of “two-tier policing” and wider arguments about race, immigration and multiculturalism.
Nowak’s family has urged people not to use his death to create hatred, saying they want his story to "help make our streets safer for everyone."
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