The murder of 18-year-old British college student Henry Nowak last December grabbed international headlines recently because Vickrum Digwa, 23, was found guilty of Henry's murder and sentenced to life in prison (with a minimum term of 21 years). What from the outside looked like yet another knife attack on the streets of the U.K. – an all-too-common occurrence in a nation that doesn't have 2nd Amendment protections – turned out to be a political flashpoint that led to demonstrations and uncomfortable questions being asked of politicians.
RedState's Brandon Morse has written two excellent pieces about what was revealed during Digwa's trial and the the aftermath after the public learned the truth.
READ MORE: This Story Out of Britain About a Slain Young Man Shows You How Conquered the UK Is
The Death of Henry Nowak Wasn't Incompetence, and That's the Scary Thing
Bits and pieces of what happened between Henry Nowak and Vickrum Digwa on that Southampton street trickled out over the course of Digwa's trial. As Brandon noted in his first story, Henry was walking back to his college accomodations after a night out with friends when he unfortunately crossed paths with Digwa.
He ran into Digwa, 23, and according to the story Digwa fed the police, Nowak began attacking him. So Digwa pulled out his knife and stabbed him eight times.
Digwa is a Sikh, and his community is allowed to publicly carry ceremonial knives as part of its religious customs. Other Brits are not afforded that same right. It was ultimately determined that Digwa stabbed Henry with a non-ceremonial knife, but that was of little comfort to a portion of the citizenry who felt people with different skins colors were being treated differently by the law.
More from Brandon on what happened next:
Neighbors immediately call the police.
In a sane world, the moment police showed up, they would've arrested Digwa. Clearly, you have a teenager who's been stabbed multiple times. He's bleeding profusely, and authorities would know that, because the blood trail Nowak left behind as he tried to flee Digwa indicated such.
But the police didn't arrest Digwa. He made the claim that Nowak was being racist toward him, and the police arrested Nowak instead. The teen told them he couldn't breathe because Digwa had stabbed him in the lung, and he was drowning in his own blood, but the police shrugged him off.
Following Digwa's sentencing, officials released the bodycam of the incident with the approval of Henry's family. Reading what happened to Henry was tough enough, but seeing it and hearing it was horrifying. The police arrived and believed the Digwa family, who had gathered around the injured Henry, who insisted there hadn't been a stabbing and that Henry was the aggressor in a "racial attack."
The response to Henry from the police officers was inhumane. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a tough watch, mostly because of the grotesque behavior from the police and the Digwa family.
In his final moments, Henry Nowak told police officers nine times “I can’t breathe” and four times that he had been stabbed.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 1, 2026
In response police officer dragged him across the gravel, handcuffed and read him his rights.
It was the last thing Henry heard before he died. pic.twitter.com/nIPoPEgOWa
Police only released a few minutes of the video footage, but several things were immediately clear: the Digwa family lied about what happened (the mother actually hid the murder weapon), Henry alerted police several times that he had been stabbed and was having trouble breathing, and the police treated Henry abominably because they were convinced the white boy had "racially attacked" Vickrum Digwa.
The release of the bodycam footage started a firestorm because there it was for all the world to see: police assumed the white young man was guilty because a young man with darker skin said so. They had been trained to respond that way. It seemed to have taken them at least three full minutes from their arrival on scene to even consider Henry may have been wounded (and that's after they manhandled and handcuffed him).
Unfortunately, this story got even worse on Wednesday with the release of the transcript that covers the additional minutes of the bodycam footage not released. What the world now knows is that it actually took nearly EIGHT minutes for police to discover Henry had been stabbed (despite Henry having told them multiple time with his dying breaths).
In the transcript an officer identified as police officer one said: “I’m not sure he’s breathing.” They uncuff Nowak and start CPR.
Police officer one then says: “Come on mate. That’s it, that’s it. Keeping breathing. Come on.”
According to the timestamps, between five minutes and 24 seconds and seven minutes and 33 seconds, a female police officer asks for a torch, wanting to make sure Nowak has not been stabbed, and asks for scissors.
After seven minutes and 33 seconds, the officer cuts his clothing and police officer one asks if he has been stabbed there, with an unseen gesture.
The dilly dallying by the police may or may not have cost Henry Nowak his life, but what it undoubtedly did was expose the rot that has set in across the pond. This is what happens when police are trained to see victims and suspects through the lens of race, grievance, and “community sensitivities” instead of the reality right before their eyes.
Whether Henry Nowak’s horrific death finally forces change in Britain remains to be seen. The public outrage is real, but the harder question is whether the people in power are willing to admit their failures. And we Americans should be paying close attention to what's happening there because that same rot is trying to take root here (see: the rise of the DSA). If we do not learn anything from Henry's murder, we may find ourselves watching the same horror play out here – the uniforms and accents may be different, but it will be the same cowardly excuse-making from the people who were supposed to stop it.
