London:
The body camera footage showing British police putting handcuffs on a dying teenager — after he was stabbed by an Indian-origin Sikh man who lied to police at the scene, claiming he had been the victim of a racist attack — has sparked outrage across the United Kingdom over lapses in policing, race and knife crime. The now-viral video shows 18-year-old Henry Nowak repeatedly telling police, “I can’t breathe”, as he lies mortally wounded on a pavement on a residential street in the southern England coastal city of Southampton.
The clip also shows officers dismissing Nowak when he said that he had been stabbed. In the video, Nowak is seen lying on his back, telling police he had been stabbed as they grabbed his wrists and tried to make him sit up. He repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.
“You’ve been stabbed? Whereabouts?” an officer said in the video. “Don’t think you have, mate.”
Partiu sem palavras de conforto ou de segurança. “Estás detido por agressão”. Foram, literalmente, as últimas palavras que Henry ouviu… Chocante. pic.twitter.com/zhNgEfGftM
— Acordar Portugal (@Arquimedes1143) June 2, 2026
The footage has been released by the police, with the permission of Nowak’s family, after his attacker, Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years in prison in the UK earlier this week.
The bodycam footage of the December incident shows Digwa standing a few steps away as police arrested bleeding Nowak and dismissed his pleas of mercy. Digwa, who is Sikh, had reported to police that he was the victim of a racist attack by Nowak, who was white. Officers who arrived at the scene appeared to take him at his word.
Killer Gets Life Sentence
But a UK court, earlier this week, determined that Digwa had lied about being the victim of racism.
It was found that Nowak, a first-year student at the University of Southampton, had been out with friends when the incident happened. When police officers walked up to the scene of what had been reported as an assault, Nowak was found on a driveway, being held up by someone who said he had a mouthful of blood.
Digwa was standing nearby and told officers he had also been injured, pointing to his eyelid, which he said was swollen. He claimed that Nowak had knocked off his turban and pulled his hair.
After Nowak was handcuffed, officers lay him on his side and searched for stab wounds. He appeared to have lost consciousness when one of the officers said he was being arrested for assault and read him his rights.
When officers discovered his injuries, they uncuffed him and started CPR, police said.
Digwa was later convicted of murder in Southampton Crown Court. Judge William Mousley told Digwa that he didn’t believe Nowak said anything racist to him.
“You are the only person to make that claim, and it is completely at odds with his previous character,” he said.
After the sentencing hearing, the victim’s father, Mark Nowak, said the case was not about racism or religion, and that he wanted his son’s death to lead to safer streets and not to be used to create “further division, hatred or tension.”
Outrage In UK
After Digwa’s sentencing, hundreds protested the arrest outside a Southampton police station on Tuesday night, with some protesters shouting, “I can’t breathe.”
A large group then walked to an area near where Nowak was killed and clashed with riot police, who retreated as they were pelted with chairs, rocks and flares.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was sickened by the video and said there were questions to be answered about how “accusations of racism informed the decision-making in this case.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, claimed that it was an example of so-called two-tier policing — a popular far-right talking point that suggests ethnic minorities are better treated than white people.
Farage urged people to respond to the incident with “pure cold rage,” and called for an end to “anti-white prejudice” and the promotion of the idea “that white lives matter just as much as Black lives.”
However, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood rejected that there are different policing standards for different communities and urged members of Parliament not to “allow this murder to turn communities against one another.”
Mahmood said that she understood people’s horror over the video of the tragic death, adding that the government is trying to sharply reduce knife crime. She also called for calm as the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigates the conduct of the officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. She said online rumours had led to death threats against an officer who wasn’t involved in the arrest.
“Misinformation and inflammatory commentary are making a dreadful situation even worse,” she said. “We must all together condemn it.”
UK’s Knife Ownership Laws
In the United Kingdom, where gun ownership is strictly regulated, knives are often used in violent crimes and are also subject to restrictions. In general, people are not allowed to carry bladed weapons except for pocketknives whose cutting edge is no longer than 3 inches (7.62 centimetres).
But Sikhs are allowed to carry ceremonial knives, known as kirpans, for religious reasons.
The judge said Digwa had a small kirpan but also had an 8-inch (21-centimetre) sheathed Sikh dagger that was used as the weapon to kill Nowak.
Judge Mousley said that the religious association of the knives had endangered other Sikhs in the past. “Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country, which have made many Sikhs worried about their own safety even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong,” the judge said.
Police apologised to Nowak’s family and said that the lies told by Digwa had misled officers.
“It is devastating the officers did not believe Henry when he said he’d been stabbed and couldn’t breathe,” Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said. “The details of the police response raise serious concerns about police impartiality, fairness and judgement.”
Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was convicted of assisting an offender after trying to hide the murder weapon. She will be sentenced on July 17.
