Bodycam video reviewed by BBC News shows the final minutes of 18-year-old Henry Nowak’s life. The footage, which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he watched multiple times and described as “harrowing,” captures officers responding to a stabbing. According to the BBC, the video shows Vickrum Digwa, who had just stabbed Nowak, lying to police by claiming the teenager had racially abused him. Officers then handcuffed Nowak, who is heard telling them he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Medical aid was not immediately provided. Digwa was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years.
Starmer told broadcasters he “felt sick” watching the footage. He said Nowak’s family “don’t want this whipped up” and accused Reform UK’s Nigel Farage of being “completely wrong to use this to try and create division.”
The video has prompted Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to say it was “absolutely appalling.” She said the severity of Nowak’s wounds meant police “could probably not have saved his life,” but that the footage showed “police who don’t know how to do the right thing anymore.” Badenoch blamed “the training that police have been given, all of this nonsense that came in after the Black Lives Movement.” She added that she did not want police “looking at the colour of your skin when they’re deciding how to treat you,” saying she believed they were “because that’s what they’re being taught.”
Farage claimed on social media that the case revealed “a two-tier Britain… where the rights of white people matter less than ethnic minorities.” He said the response should be “pure cold rage” and sent a message that people had had “enough of anti-white prejudice” and that “white lives matter just about as much as black lives.” Badenoch criticized Farage’s language, saying that while she wanted to see change, “we don’t need rage, which is what Nigel Farage is pushing.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood made a statement in the House of Commons, calling the video “heartbreaking” and “disturbing and tragic.” She said that while there had been “accusations… of two-tier policing,” the appropriate response was to allow the Independent Office for Police Complaints (IOPC) to determine “the facts with regard to this specific case” and investigate whether individual officers were guilty of misconduct. Mahmood said she did not think “this is a moment to pit white Britons against non-white Britons” and called for “political grandstanding” to be rejected.
Mahmood also warned of a “dangerous undercurrent” related to criticism of the police, saying there had already been “threats against police officers” following the case, including one officer forced to relocate. She said “misinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation even worse.”
The Attorney General’s office is separately reviewing whether Digwa’s sentence was too lenient, after receiving “multiple requests” under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. The court could increase the minimum term if it finds a serious error that damaged public confidence.