Student Henry Nowak repeatedly told police officers “I can’t breathe” as he lay dying in handcuffs after being stabbed, bodycam footage shows.
The 18-year-old Southampton student was handcuffed after killer Vickrum Digwa, 23, lied to police at the scene of the 2025 stabbing, claiming he had been the victim of a racist attack.
Footage released by the force, with permission from Nowak’s family, shows him pleading “I’ve been stabbed” and an officer replying “I don’t think you have mate”.
Nowak suffered stab wounds to his legs and a fatal wound to his heart from a 21cm (8in) blade that Digwa said he carried as part of his Sikh faith. He was jailed for life with a minimum 21-year term.
Speaking in the House of Commons earlier, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood revealed a police officer unrelated to the case had been misidentified and forced to relocate in order to protect him and his family.
The attorney general’s office is also considering the jail sentence given to Digwa after receiving “multiple requests” to review it under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme.
Warning: This story contains details some may find upsetting
Nowak’s family, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, called his treatment by police “inhumane and degrading” and the force has apologised.
His father, Mark, said: “Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times. He told them that he had been stabbed four times. Henry was pulled across the gravel, his hands forced behind his back and he was placed in handcuffs.”
He said the contrast between how his son and Digwa had been treated was “unbearable”.
“Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody,” he added.
In the footage, a police officer arriving at the scene can be heard asking: “What’s your name, mate?”
Nowak, who is lying on his back on the ground, faintly replies: “Henry.”
As the video continues, Digwa steps into the frame. He claims Nowak had taken his turban off and grabbed him by the hair.
The officer asks Digwa if he is injured, to which Digwa replies: “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a swollen eye here, a little bruise here.”
Officers then turn to Nowak, who can be heard repeating “I’ve been stabbed” and then “I can’t breathe” while he is made to sit up to be handcuffed.
As the footage continues, the officer can be heard asking where Henry has been stabbed. He then adds: “Don’t think you have, mate.”
While being handcuffed, Nowak says “I can’t breathe” another three times.
The officer can be heard saying: “He says he’s been stabbed, so let’s just check him.” He appears to briefly lift Nowak’s shirt around the belt area before he is left to lie on his side.
A female officer can then be heard asking: “Where do you think he’s been stabbed? In the face?”
A male voice replies: “He hasn’t been stabbed.”
Nowak, who seems unresponsive, is then told he is being arrested for assault.
Hampshire police’s Deputy Chief Constable Robert France said that within three minutes of interacting with Nowak, the officers were starting to perform CPR.
“This is a complete tragedy and I am sorry that they couldn’t save Henry that night and I’m sorry that Henry was handcuffed and arrested as he lost consciousness,” he said.
“The pathologist who spoke in court was clear there was nothing officers could have done that day to save Henry.
“His wound was deep and internal, the bleeding extensive but internal.”
Police handoutAddressing the Commons, Mahmood said the stabbing was an “evil act” and she wanted to “pay tribute to the powerful words of the Nowak family”.
She said the bodycam footage was a “disturbing and tragic thing to see”.
“The IOPC will be equipped and encouraged to act to find the truth and to ensure, if necessary, that there are consequences,” she said.
But she said there was a “dangerous undercurrent” in how some had reacted to “this awful crime”.
Sir Keir Starmer commented on the case in a post on X, where he said: “This an awful, shocking case.
“We must end the cycle of tragedy by tackling the horror of knife crime.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on social media that people should respond with “pure cold rage” to the treatment of Nowak.
In a statement, he said that “Henry’s family have responded to this in just the most extraordinarily dignified way” and claimed Britain has a “two tier culture where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Farage of deepening divisions as she argued police should treat everyone equally regardless of race.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was “an evil murder made so much worse by the police response”.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones described Nowak’s death as a “national tragedy”.
The Conservative politician said she was meeting with his family and had written to the prime minster calling for an “urgent review on the carrying of bladed articles for religious and ceremonial purposes”.
A spokesman for the attorney general said: “We have received multiple requests for Vickrum Digwa’s sentence to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
“The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to carefully consider the case and make a decision.”
Crown Prosecution ServiceUnder current legislation, practising Sikh’s have a legal defence for wearing a small, curved blade, known as a kirpan, close to their body for religious purposes.
While Digwa had been wearing a traditional kirpan under his clothing, the weapon he used on Nowak was much bigger and he had worn it in a sheath on top of his clothes.
When he asked his mother Kiran Kaur to take it away from the murder scene, he described it as a ‘shastar’, which is the Punjabi word for weapon.
Kaur is due to be sentenced for assisting an offender later this month.
The Sikh community has strongly condemned the killing and told the BBC worries about Digwa’s behaviour in the past had prompted them to bar him from one of their places of worship in Southampton. It added this happened long before he murdered Nowak.
The Sikh Federation said the blade used by Digwa was not a kirpan, while the Sikh Press Association added plans wre in process to ensure every initiated Sikh in the UK was addressed directly regarding kirpan rules and responsibility.
In a statement, Digwa’s family said they were “deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the Nowak family has had to endure”.
It continues: “We would give anything to turn back time so the path of both Henry and Vickrum never crossed that night. We cannot change what has happened, we just hope that no further pain is caused in its name.”
The family added it “apologises to the Sikh community for our son’s actions which have unfairly brought the community into disrepute” and asked that the “tragedy is not used to inflame division or hostility”.
The officers who were called to the murder scene are still being treated as witnesses by the IOPC.
IOPC director Derrick Campbell said: “We acknowledge that this case has raised questions about the actions of the attending officers and we are aware that a few minutes of police body-worn footage has been issued by the force following the conclusion of criminal proceedings.
“As part of our ongoing investigation we are reviewing a large amount of police body-worn footage, which we need to consider in context with other evidence we have obtained, including reviewing material presented during the murder trial, as we establish the full circumstances.”
