Henry Nowak repeatedly told officers he had been stabbed, but he was handcuffed by police after his killer Vickrum Digwa falsely claimed he had been racially abused.
The 18-year-old was just a few months into his first year at university when he was killed on his way home to his accommodation in Southampton on 3 December.
Digwa has been jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years for the murder.
This is what we know of how the night unfolded, including what we learned from CCTV and bodycam footage, a transcript of the 999 call and the judge’s sentencing remarks.
He checked his hair in the mirror before he exited the lift and walked out into the corridor.
CCTV footage then captured him entering a convenience store and buying a drink.
He then arrived at The Hobbit pub in Southampton and was checked for ID by the bouncers at the entrance.
Footage from inside the pub shows Nowak going down the stairs and passing a group of people in the beer garden. He then made his way back upstairs to head out onto the street.
At 23:07, Nowak can be seen making his way back towards his university accommodation.
Nowak is then captured on CCTV walking past a group of people on a road lit up by streetlamps. At the end of the footage, he can be seen picking up his pace and jogging down the road.
PADuring Digwa’s sentencing on Monday, Judge William Mousley KC described how Nowak’s journey home took him north along Belmont Road to the junction with St Denys Road – where his killer lived.
Judge Mousley said Digwa, 23, was walking south along Belmont Road at the same time, in what “was to be a chance meeting”.
Nowak was alone and unarmed, the judge said. He added that the 18-year-old was not drunk, and his blood alcohol level was found to be below the drink-drive limit.
Digwa, who is Sikh, was carrying a knife in a sheath on his belt which Nowak then began filming on his phone, the judge said. Judge Mousley commented that it is a strict requirement of the Sikh faith to carry a knife, called a kirpan, at all times.
The judge also said Digwa was carrying a second, larger dagger in a sheath – which is also a part of his tradition as a member of the Nihang order of Sikhs. Wearing the second knife is not a strict requirement, he added.
Mousley KC said that Nowak asked Digwa if he was a “bad man”, likely to have been prompted by him noticing the dagger. The judge said Digwa told Nowak he was “a bad man” and took the student’s phone.
The “exact events which immediately followed” were only witnessed by the two men, the judge noted.
But in his sentencing remarks, he explained: “it would not be unreasonable to conclude that Henry would have wanted his phone back, believing it had been stolen from him or that he had been robbed.”
The judge said that in the ensuing altercation Digwa drew the dagger from its sheath and deliberately stabbed the defenceless student in the chest.
He added that Digwa stabbed Nowak four times including twice in the upper leg and that “one or more of the stab wounds must have had an immediate effect as Henry was never able to put up his hands to defend himself from further serious injury”.
The judge explained that footage filmed by Digwa showed Nowak “desperately trying to get away” by scaling a fence and getting onto a communal bin before landing on a car in front of the next-door property.
Digwa “continued to make films of Henry suffering, ignoring much of his desperation at having been stabbed”, the judge added.
At approximately 23:30 – less than half an hour after Nowak was seen on CCTV heading home – the killer’s brother, Gurpreet Digwa, called 999. He told the operator that Vickrum had been “attacked by someone racially” and gave the location.
“He’s physically attacked my brother. We’re Sikhs, we wear turbans and he’s just attacked my brother,” Gurpreet can be heard saying. He told the call handler, when asked, that no weapons had been involved but that Nowak needed medical attention.
The call lasted just under 12 minutes. The handler tells Gurpreet that police officers will be at the scene “very shortly” and that an ambulance would also be called.
Seven minutes after the call was made, police arrived at the scence at 23:37.
Bodycam footage shows four people on a driveway while Nowak is on the floor. The footage shows Digwa lying to police by telling them he had been racially abused by Nowak.
One minute and 11 seconds into the footage, Nowak is heard saying he has been stabbed. He said “I can’t breathe” seven times.
At 23:38, Nowak is handcuffed. An officer is heard saying Nowak is under arrest and read him his rights.
One minute later, an ambulance is called and officers administer CPR.
The judge said Nowak’s injuries were so severe he would not have survived, however quickly he received first aid, CPR or expert medical treatment.
Less than four hours after he was seen entering a lift to leave his student accommodation, Nowak dies.
Five days later, on December 8, Vickrum Digwa was charged with murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place.
On May 28 2026, Digwa was found guilty of murder. On June 1, he was jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years.
Additional reporting by Marina Costa
