Henry Nowak police must answer 'serious questions' over handling of murder says Starmer as he admits bodycam footage of stabbed student pleading for help left him 'sick'

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR and KATHERINE LAWTON, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 17:23, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 17:25, 2 June 2026 Police must answer serious questions about their treatment of Henry Nowak in the minutes before he died, including how false claims he was a racism informed their actions, Keir Starmer said tonight. The Prime Minister said he 'felt sick' after watching bodycam footage of the teenager pleading unsuccessfully for help from officers after he was brutally attacked by Vickrum Digwa. Nowak, 18, repeatedly said 'I can't breathe' and begged for an ambulance after being knifed six times by stranger Digwa, 23, last December. But officers instead arrested and restrained the dying university student, mocking his pleas for aid, after being falsely told he had hurled racial abuse at his killer. Nigel Farage led outrage today, insisting 'white lives matter too' and complained of 'two-tier' justice.  Kemi Badenoch has also intervened, saying 'all lives matter' - but criticised Mr Farage for 'reinforcing difference' with his focus on race.  Speaking to broadcasters this evening, Sir Keir also criticised Mr Farage but said Hampshire Police had to explain how 'accusations of racism informed the decision-making in this case'. The Prime Minister said the footage was 'harrowing', adding: 'I have to say, as a father of a 17-year-old boy, I felt sick watching it.' The Prime Minister said the 'felt sick' after watching bodycam footage of the teenager pleading unsuccessfully for help from officers who handcuffed him instead as he lay dying Police body cam footage shows innocent victim Henry Nowak, 18, being forced into handcuffs by officers after he was stabbed repeatedly by a knife-obsessed Sikh man  Murderer Vickrum Digwa is seen lying to police as he tells them the teenager ripped off his turban in a racist attack  Henry was a finance student at the University of Southampton and was described as 'kind and talented' by his family Nigel Farage insisted 'white lives matter too' amid fury at the teenager's last moments   Digwa used an eight-inch ceremonial dagger to carry out the murder in Southampton city centre last December. The injured student was then arrested as he lay dying on the ground, drowning in his own blood.  The killer - who was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison yesterday - did not know Mr Nowak but told a 'wicked lie' to officers that he had been subjected to racist abuse, punched, and had his turban knocked off.  Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood today told MPs that 'we cannot allow this murder to turn communities against one another' and said anger should be targeted at 'those who committed this heinous crime, not all those who share their faith or their ethnicity.' Earlier, a spokesman for PM Keir Starmer said: 'There is no such things as two-tier policing.'  Hampshire Police was last week forced to apologise to Mr Nowak's family for arresting the fatally injured teenager. Deputy Chief Constable Robert France told the Daily Mail: 'I'm sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested.' The Independent Office for Police Conduct is looking into how the officers acted. The case has caused international outrage, with tech billionaire Elon Musk offering to fund a private prosecution against the police. There have also been questions about whether anti-racism training may have influenced officers' judgment. Keir Starmer reacted to the case last night, saying it is 'right' the police actions will be investigated Mr Farage said the public should respond with 'pure cold rage' because Mr Nowak was 'actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder'. He warned that 'we are living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities'.  Public comment on the case was previously limited to avoid prejudicing the trial, and police released the footage after the sentencing.  The Attorney General's office is considering the jail sentence after receiving 'multiple requests' to review it under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme. A spokesman said: 'We have received multiple requests for Vickrum Digwa's sentence to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme. 'The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to carefully consider the case and make a decision.' In a video statement, Mr Farage said: 'Henry's family have responded to this in just the most extraordinarily dignified way. 'But I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage. 'This is wrong. All the values and standards of living in a free country where everybody is judged equally before the law have been trashed and thrown away.' The Reform UK leader said: 'What does he say? I can't breathe. 'Familiar words. Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwest America a few years ago. 'Remember the reaction to that and the way the police behaved? Within a few days Keir Starmer was taking the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded all over the country. Churchill's statue was defaced, the cenotaph was vandalised.' Mr Farage added: 'The most important thing that needs to change, that has to change, if our society is not to be ripped apart, where communities start to distrust each other and deeply distrust the police and all the other institutions of this country, is we need a change in culture. 'Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives. 'An end to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law. 'This is serious. This is urgent. I fear for where our society will be in a few short years if we don't grip this and do it very, very quickly.' Appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Ms Badenoch said: 'What Nigel Farage is doing is reinforcing the difference.  'I have said that we need to find what we have in common, not what separates us. I don't want to hear about Black Lives Matter. I don't want to hear about White Lives Matter. We all matter. 'Enough of this nonsense, where we keep separating everybody and splitting people into different groups. We are descending into tribalism. I do not want that. It is why I say that we should be a multiracial country, not a multicultural country.' Keir Starmer reacted to the case last night, saying: 'This is an awful, shocking case. Henry's loved ones have gone through the trauma of a long trial and endured Henry's killer making up appalling claims about their son who was thoughtful, kind and deeply loved.  'It is right that the IOPC is investigating the police's response to his senseless murder. And we must end the cycle of tragedy by tackling the horror of knife crime. Henry's family, friends, his university and the city of Southampton will continue to feel his loss, and our thoughts will always be with them.'  The newly released footage shows the teenager saying four times, 'I've been stabbed', to which one policeman replies, 'I don't think you have mate'.  Officers pull Mr Nowak along the ground as he continues to beg for help, telling them he cannot breathe at least seven times before he is ordered to place his hands in the cuffs.  The student died from drowning in his own blood shortly after his wrongful arrest, Southampton Crown Court heard.  The footage also shows Digwa telling police that his victim had not been stabbed. A female officer replies: 'I know, but we have to check don't we.' Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds suggested the Government will not look again at the exemption allowing Sikhs to carry knives. He told the BBC: 'There is an exception in terms of carrying bladed articles in public places for particular religious and ceremonial reasons. An image issued by the Crown Prosecution Service shows the eight-inch ceremonial dagger used by Digwa 'And whilst, of course, we've been tightening up the law, we've banned things like terrible zombie knives, we've tightened up the law in terms of online purchasing of knives. 'It's not about looking, I think, more broadly at that particular exception. 'Indeed, if you look at what the judge said in this case, the judge actually said that the minute that this perpetrator removed the blade from the sheath, you can forget any sense of there being some sort of exception to the law. 'And he also said the fact that this perpetrator was willing to use a bladed article was an abuse of the privilege that Sikhs and indeed other religions have. It was something that made this case worse because of that abuse of that privilege.' Mr Thomas-Symonds has said the conduct of police officers at the scene was 'shocking'. He told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The footage, the body-cam footage, is every parent's nightmare. 'It is harrowing, and it is absolutely shocking, and the conduct of the police, when you look at it at the scene, is shocking. 'I'm sure your thoughts, my thoughts, the thoughts of all your listeners this morning are with Henry's family and Henry's friends, not only being the victim of a heinous crime, but also the lies of the perpetrator, the lies at the scene, the false accusations of racism,' he added. 'But remember, as well, this perpetrator lied and lied and lied, and put Henry's family through a whole contested trial.' He added: 'It must be for the Independent Office for Police Conduct, without fear or favour, to ask all the questions that are necessary to get to the truth of what happened here.' No comments have so far been submitted. 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