Police tracking British far-right agitators over Nowak death riot fears

Police are monitoring the potential for disorder sparked by the death of Henry Nowak, whose murder by a man falsely accusing him of a racist attack has led to calls for protest from the British far-right.

Mr Nowak, 18, was fatally stabbed in Southampton in December after a chance meeting with Vickrum Digwa, 23.

Handing Digwa a life sentence on Monday, Judge William Mousley KC said he had used a “large Sikh dagger” to murder Mr Nowak, but then sought to cover up the crime by lying to police officers at the scene.

Mr Nowak had repeatedly told the officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe, but he was arrested after Digwa falsely claimed he had been racially abused by Mr Nowak.

Speaking outside Southampton Crown Court following the hearing, Mr Nowak’s father, Mark Nowak, said the family wanted the murder to be a catalyst for change to make Britain’s “streets safer for everyone” by tackling knife crime.

“We do not want his death used to create further division, hated or tension,” he added. “This is not a case about Sikhism, this is not a case about racism, this is a case about murder.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been accused of “whipping up” anger and division after he said that the murder “must be a turning point” because “white lives matter too”.

The slogan “white lives matter” was created by white supremacists as a reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the US Anti-Defamation League. It has since become the name of an informal international far-right movement that calls for “white countries for white people”.

Farage also claimed that the police treatment of Mr Nowak as he lay dying represented a “two-tier” Britain – something that Sir Keir Starmer denied. Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, attacked Farage for “descending into tribalism”.

Several far-right groups and figures have used the case to repeat the allegations, denied by police leaders, that “two-tier policing” discriminates in favour of ethnic minorities, and claim a “white genocide” is taking place.

Tommy Robinson called for crowds to gather outside Southampton Police station on Tuesday evening, and his call has been echoed by other hate-speech influencers, including Daniel Thomas, formerly connected to the Raise the Colours movement which took direct action against migrants attempting to cross the English Channel.

“No more excuses. No more hiding behind keyboards,” Thomas wrote on Instagram, encouraging people to gather at the police station.

Britain First, a far-right group which previously carried out “Christian patrols” through areas with a high population of Muslims, emailed their supporters stating they would be delivering a petition on Wednesday evening to Hampshire police headquarters calling for “prosecutions for the woke police officers.”

Sid Venkataramakrishnan, an analyst who has been tracking the response to Mr Nowak’s murder at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said the “weaponisation” of the case had echoes of the Southport attack.

“The case is being used by far-right actors both in the UK and internationally to promote the belief that non-white people – regardless of citizenship status – are fundamentally a threat to Western countries,” he told The i Paper. “As we saw in 2024, this can quickly turn into violence targeted against individuals and communities.”

The murder of Mr Nowak is being treated by the police as a “trigger incident” that has the potential to spark disorder and hate crime. Previous trigger incidents have included the 2024 Southport attack, which was followed by riots when the perpetrator was falsely reported to be a Muslim small boat migrant, and a series of sexual offences committed by asylum seekers that generated angry protests outside several hotels last summer.

Processes set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) require local police forces dealing with potential trigger incidents to feed information and intelligence into the National Community Tension Team. That group passes information onwards into a national committee that decides whether extra police officers and riot officers need to be mobilised.

As of Tuesday afternoon, a national operation had not been stood up in response to Mr Nowak’s murder but the situation was being monitored, The i Paper understands.

The police response to the murder of Mr Nowak is under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Derrick Campbell, the director of the watchdog, said: “Now that criminal proceedings have concluded, we are planning to meet with Mr Nowak’s family and provide them with updates about our investigation.”