Henry Nowak…….an absolute tragedy.

SueDonim

Lemonjam said Digwa lied but the police officers did not know at that stage he was lying.

Why would the police choose to believe Digwa but chose not to believe Henry?

This morning I watched Henry’s father make his statement. What a dignified response he gave. I thought Henry’s sister, Olivia, looked so utterly, utterly broken. 😥

As I said earlier, Officers are trained to respond and believe all allegations of racial abuse. Digwa lied, as did his brother so the Police believed them.

If officers are trained to believe all allegations of racial abuse then they need some retraining

Henry was curled up, on the ground between a car and a living room window. How a police officer responded so roughly I'll never know. He pulled Henry by his foot to move him from the small area where he was collapsed. Henry tried to say he'd been stabbed and couldn't breathe.

Horrendous policing

Lemonjam

The footage I have seen does not show the police manhandling Henry. It shows the officers arriving on the scene and Digwa making false allegations against Henry. As a result one of the officers placed handcuffs on his in line with the nature of allegations against Henry ( at that stage the did not know they were false) and adhering to arrest process in such circumstances.

So why no handcuffs when arresting the assailant for murder? Is that standard procedure?

No matter what amount of spin you attempt to put on this awful incident it remains clear the police didn’t adhere to standard procedure and if they did then standard procedure stinks. They have elevated racism above any other crime.

The poor lad could hardly speak, was missing a shoe and there was blood. A neighbour said he’d been stabbed, Henry himself said he’d been stabbed and was quite clearly in a bad way. They pulled his arms behind his back and handcuffed him anyway but the murderer was apparently treated with kid gloves. As for you not seeing him being manhandled and pulled over gravel. I can only assume you didn’t see the full footage.

There are no excuses, none.

I hope the parents sue Southampton Police Force.
Reform are going to town on this story and it will resonate.

Presumably Starmer should be supporting all people of this country, even Sikhs. We all know that one of them was a bad 'un and committed a horrific crime, then lied to try and cover it up (not the first time a suspect has lied).

What happened in Southampton doesn't cancel out the racism (including anti-semitism) which many "people of this country" experience.

Primrose53

SueDonim

Lemonjam said Digwa lied but the police officers did not know at that stage he was lying.

Why would the police choose to believe Digwa but chose not to believe Henry?

This morning I watched Henry’s father make his statement. What a dignified response he gave. I thought Henry’s sister, Olivia, looked so utterly, utterly broken. 😥

As I said earlier, Officers are trained to respond and believe all allegations of racial abuse. Digwa lied, as did his brother so the Police believed them.

Apparently, it was the brother who first alerted the police and told them that his brother had been racially abused. (I'm still not sure how the family found out so quickly, but never mind.)

I'm very glad that the police took the allegation of racial abuse seriously, especially given the increase in race crimes (including antisemitism). At that stage, the police wouldn't have known that the brother was lying. All they knew was that there was some kind of altercation after pub closing time and that one of the people involved was accusing another of racial abuse. I expect the police deal with calls like that all the time and most of them turn out to be not very serious.

What seems to have happened is that the group of police who were sent to the incident made a mistake. The exact circumstances are being investigated. I don't believe for one minute that there was some kind of conspiracy to ignore Henry because he was white. I don't fully understand what happened before the stabbing and what Henry meant when he told the Sikh man that he was "bad".

Boz

I hope the parents sue Southampton Police Force.
Reform are going to town on this story and it will resonate.

Hmm...I wonder what Farage would personally have done, if he'd been PM. It's very easy to criticise, when you're not responsible.

He continued: “That is the mess that we’ve got into and that is why in some ways what happened, and despite the appalling behaviour of those police officers, in some ways what happened on that night in Southampton perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise.”
Nigel Farage.

He added: “The biggest fear a police officer now has going about his or her duty on the street is the fear of being reported for having acted in a way that was racially biased. That fear is now greater than dealing with a dying man lying on the ground. 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.

From the bbc today:

Vickrum Digwa has appeared in court, along with his brother and father, charged with multiple weapons offences.
Vickrum, 23, who has already been sentenced for the murder of Henry Nowak, appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court to face six counts of possessing an offensive weapon in a private place.
The alleged weapons are a flick knife, an extendable baton, knuckledusters, a machete, swords and kusaris.
His father, Moga Singh, 52, and his brother, Gurpreet Digwa, 27 - who are on bail - appeared alongside him to face the same charges.
Gurpreet also faced four additional charges:
Possessing an offensive weapon, an asp, in a public place
Possessing a prohibited weapon - an air rifle
Possessing an axe in a public place
Possessing a knife in a public place
All of the offences are dated 4 December 2025, the day after Nowak was killed.

Sounds like the whole family was involved.

twaddle. They didn’t make a mistake - they prioritised the allegation of racial abuse over a man (and witness) who said he had been stabbed.

I gather one Police Officer has resigned. All very well, but surely the issues are the directives that come from top That is to prioritise any perceived racism as expressed by non white demographics, and to make their account of events as paramount. As this terrible case clearly illustrates.

Primrose53

*twaddle*. They didn’t make a mistake - they prioritised the allegation of racial abuse over a man (and witness) who said he had been stabbed.

Sorry, but that's a mistake - a big one - in my book. Has there been an investigation yet? Does anybody actually know why the police officers acted as they did? They were told by the brother that it was a race attack. There would have been no reason to think otherwise at the beginning. The mistake was not to listen to what Henry was saying.

TerriBull

I gather one Police Officer has resigned. All very well, but surely the issues are the directives that come from top That is to prioritise any perceived racism as expressed by non white demographics, and to make their account of events as paramount. As this terrible case clearly illustrates.

I can see a problem. How should the police react if somebody rang 999 and said that somebody wearing a kippah was being attacked?

Primrose53

LemonJam

Primrose53

L Hoyle, the Speaker had to intervene yesterday because of the silence from Starmer and say that this would be discussed in Parliament this afternoon. apparently this is highly unusual.

What is it about Starmer that he always fails to do the right thing? He shouldn’t need to be told! Look how fast he responded to the murder of the convicted criminal George Floyd which happened in the US!!! Nothing to do with us but he jumped right in there, taking the knee and releasing statements.

Henry was a decent, white British young man just starting out on his University career. Just 12 weeks into his course with his whole life ahead of him. Shocking beyond belief.

George Floyd was brutally murdered by a police officer. The bodycamm footage showing the officer kneeling on Floyd for 9 minutes until he died of asphyxiation shocked the world. Many many leaders, politicians, sports men and women and celebrities took the knee and/or made public statements.

Floyd's horrific and brutal police murder because of racist beliefs is to do with people that thought it wrong and would like to see an end to such police brutality and racism. Starmer was one of the many that took thought it wrong and that did and does not reflect badly on him.

Regarding your last sentence about Starmer - thousands would completely disagree with you. It reflects very badly on him.
He should be supporting the people of this country not a convicted criminal in the US!

I disagree that it reflects badly on anyone around the world, including Starmer, who took the knee after Floyd was brutally murdered by a racist police man. Thousands would disagree with you that taking the knee reflected badly on anyone Primrose - but you are entitled to your opinion.

Its the total silence that reflects badly on him, not the knee.

I think it made everyone involved look fairly foolish to be honest.
I would expect police to do some rudimentary investigations when allegations are made. People say all sorts of things, that doesnt make them true, particularly in altercations in the streets or outside pubs, I am just using those two scenarios as examples.

MissAdventure

Its the total silence that reflects badly on him, not the knee.

I agree with you about the silence.

LemonJam. I said it reflected badly on KS and I didn’t mention “anyone around the world”.

twaddle

Boz

I hope the parents sue Southampton Police Force.
Reform are going to town on this story and it will resonate.

Hmm...I wonder what Farage would personally have done, if he'd been PM. It's very easy to criticise, when you're not responsible.

Yesterday Henry's father said "We hold Vickram Digwa solely and 100% responsible for the brutal murder of our son". He "particularly asked that politicians not use his son's death as a chance to promote their own agendas*.

He went on to say "we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension".

Predictably and abominably, Farage launches his address at 8am this morning, shamefully capitalising on Henry's death for his own political agenda, when Henry's father expressly asked for this not to happen. Shame on Farage.

The Novak family does not want division, hatred and tension.

MissAdventure

Its the total silence that reflects badly on him, not the knee.

He's made a statement.

Primrose53

MissAdventure

Its the total silence that reflects badly on him, not the knee.

I agree with you about the silence.

LemonJam. I said it reflected badly on KS and I didn’t mention “anyone around the world”.

Taking the knee does not reflect badly on Starmer or anyone else.

How nice of him.
How long dod it take?

Oh!, blast! did not dod!'

It is identity politics that causes division, and everyone has embraced that with fervour. I have no idea what people thought would happen but here we are.

The whole family are violent. Look at what they’ve been charged with today. Look at the list of weapons. Henry’s tragedy is that he came in their orbit. It could have been anybody. I hope they all get put away for a very long time.