Henry Nowak…….an absolute tragedy.

ronib

Cossy The PM via the Home Secretary needs to wake up. Of course it’s the responsibility of the government to act.
Who else is responsible when police actions are simply wrong.
And why has the murderer’s brother not been charged for his lies?

I didn’t say it wasn’t his responsibility to act, please don’t put words into my mouth. I said it’s inappropriate for him to publicly comment whilst the police investigation is being completed.

I have no idea why the brother was not prosecuted and no idea why you’re asking me that question?

I agree, anyone involved in the cover up should be prosecuted and the entire family should be investigated as apparently approx 20 other “weapons” in their home!

I think people view the 'take the knee' movement in a different light now, particularly with regard to some of the concerns raised about the BLM movement. I doubt Starmer would be as foolish to react in such a way again.

The murderer was a knife carrying thug.

Being Sikh was used as an excuse to carry an 8” knife which he used to stab this young man 5 times. He was wearing a small ceremonial dagger around his neck to satisfy his religious observance so had no right to also be carrying another dangerous weapon.

That police would handcuff a young man lying on the pavement is beyond disgraceful. He died in handcuffs and had done nothing wrong.

Yes there should, and I hope will be outrage.

RIP Henry.

LemonJam

What should Starmer be commenting about? The IOPC investigation has not yet concluded and the murderer has been convicted.

Starmer could have offered his condolences to the family and said he would back a full investigation.

surfsup

The murderer was a knife carrying thug.

Being Sikh was used as an excuse to carry an 8” knife which he used to stab this young man 5 times. He was wearing a small ceremonial dagger around his neck to satisfy his religious observance so had no right to also be carrying another dangerous weapon.

That police would handcuff a young man lying on the pavement is beyond disgraceful. He died in handcuffs and had done nothing wrong.

Yes there should, and I hope will be outrage.

RIP Henry.

I agree. It’s a terrible situation carried out by a lawless man.

Sago I do see your point, but very sadly almost every day some terrible incident takes places, injuries, fatigues, miscarriages of justice, do you expect our PM to comment publicly on them all?

Besides which, he may well have privately commented, though again I would expect comments from our govt AFTER the investigation?

MaizieD

I’m really not sure why this particular case of a random murder should be the cause of outrage? Does this by any chance have anything to do with the ethnicity of the murderer?

I think it does…at least from the view of the police who attended this incident.
They were more concerned with an accusation of racism from a Sikh than the fact that a white male student had been stabbed multiple times, was on the ground and bleeding out, dying.
This is where over zealous wokeism gets you.

Sago

LemonJam

What should Starmer be commenting about? The IOPC investigation has not yet concluded and the murderer has been convicted.

Starmer could have offered his condolences to the family and said he would back a full investigation.

Yes Sago he could have done, but that’s Starmer for you.

I looked round for some more detail which might help- 28/5/26 13.01 Guardian:

"After the verdict, Hampshire police apologised for handcuffing Nowak and said the watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), was investigating.
Robert France, the force’s deputy chief constable, said: “This case is an absolute tragedy. I’m sorry that Henry’s life couldn’t be saved that night, and I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested. He was the victim.”

Asked whether a fear of being perceived as racist played a part in the officers’ decision to arrest Nowak, he responded: “There’s an ongoing investigation by the IOPC, which will look into all of the information available to officers, their accounts of the decisions they made and why they made those decisions.
“What I can say at the moment is that it is clear that there were lies told [by Digwa] as the incident played out. That’s made it more difficult for officers to understand what had happened.”
Responding to criticism of the police response by Elon Musk and the Reform MP Robert Jenrick, France said: “I’m a strong advocate of free speech. I think it’s important people can say what they feel they want to say. All I would ask is that people try to understand the full circumstances. It was undoubtedly complex, and it is clear that they [the officers] misunderstood what was happening.”

On whether the decisions of the officers affected Nowak’s chances of survival, France said: “The pathologist has been clear in court that Henry’s injury was deep and internal, the significant bleeding that we heard about in court was internal, and there wasn’t anything the officer [could] have done that night that would have saved Henry.”…..

In the Prosecutors closing speech he said Digwa had lied repeatedly about what had happened. “Racism was his trump card to try to make sure what he had done was lawful. We say that was a wicked lie about a dying man.

“This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder.”

Galaxy

I think people view the 'take the knee' movement in a different light now, particularly with regard to some of the concerns raised about the BLM movement. I doubt Starmer would be as foolish to react in such a way again.

The fact that he, among others were foolish enough to do it in the first place speaks volumes.

Are police officers so dense that they arrest the man, on the ground who has been stabbed many times and can’t see that he’s a victim of the other person who wasn’t stabbed?
The fact that the force has apologised means they know they have made a terrible mistake.
And I am not at all surprised sadly.

I was surprised to hear Starmer comment about the case, and possible review of the sentences of the two juvenile rapists; I thought it may well have been sub judice.
He chooses to comment on some events and not others and his lack of comment on this murder and the victim's treatment by the police is a subject of national interest and also some concern.

Sago

LemonJam

What should Starmer be commenting about? The IOPC investigation has not yet concluded and the murderer has been convicted.

Starmer could have offered his condolences to the family and said he would back a full investigation.

There is already an active full investigation in place- no conclusions yet available for the PM to act upon or back. No policing concerns have ye been evidenced.

On any given work day there are likely to be 2 murder trials actively being held in crown courts across England and Wales. The PM does not comment on all murder trial outcomes. May 2026 murders reported in press- not exhaustive list- Emma Barnett, guilty of murdering her 14 month old son before he could be taken into care. Samuel Field was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his 93 year old friend Marin Glynn after a brutal 10 hour assault. 2 men were found guilty of murder and 3 others guilty of manslaughter of 47 year old Paul Foster. Sara Ngaba was found guilty of murder after an assault of her daughter at 7 weeks old etc etc. The PM has not offered condolences to the families of these murder victims or other recent murder victims.

There is no legal protocol for a PM to offer condolences to murder victim's families. Such PM public statements are typically reserved for high profile large scale tragedies, terrorist attacks, arena bombings, Southport stabbings etc. This is not such a case.

The PM may on occasion meet with families at 10 Downing Street to offer personal condolences and hear concerns if the murders highlight pubic safety concerns, systemic justice failures, policing controversies Where there have been systemic or institutional failures or wider public safety issues- e.g the families of the Nottingham attacks and families campaigning against media harms. *No evidence of policing controversies yet exist- the prosecution barrister, on behalf of the Crown, in this case was very clear*:

“This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder.”

eazybee

I was surprised to hear Starmer comment about the case, and possible review of the sentences of the two juvenile rapists; I thought it may well have been sub judice.
He chooses to comment on some events and not others and his lack of comment on this murder and the victim's treatment by the police is a subject of national interest and also some concern.

Starmer comment after judgment had been made in the case of the young rapists. This case hasn’t been to court yet.

I fail to comprehend why, why some posters here are using this appalling tragedy to have yet another dig at Starmer, call our police “dumb” and yet fail to even acknowledge the pain, sorrow and grief that the victim’s family and friends are experience.

🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

It goes without saying that we all realise the suffering of that poor boy’s family, knowing he was a stabbed victim who was handcuffed by police as a perpetrator!
We’re all angry on his and their behalf.

Seems like he was stabbed for no reason, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What senseless waste of life.
Nobody, should be able to carry a blade around in this country.

MT62

Seems like he was stabbed for no reason, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What senseless waste of life.
Nobody, should be able to carry a blade around in this country.

I completely agree.

Here are stringent rules around the Sikh “weapons” which are not actually sharpened long knives like the one he used.

I have no idea why this poor young man was targetted, perhaps he looked the wrong way, it was in no way his “fault” and the perp was a vile and evil man!

There not here!

Cossy

Sago I do see your point, but very sadly almost every day some terrible incident takes places, injuries, fatigues, miscarriages of justice, do you expect our PM to comment publicly on them all?

Besides which, he may well have privately commented, though again I would expect comments from our govt AFTER the investigation?

Why did he respond then to the death of a criminal in America?

eazybee

I was surprised to hear Starmer comment about the case, and possible review of the sentences of the two juvenile rapists; I thought it may well have been sub judice.
He chooses to comment on some events and not others and his lack of comment on this murder and the victim's treatment by the police is a subject of national interest and also some concern.

"sub judice' literally means "under a judge" in Latin. It means a case is currently under judicial consideration and has not yet been decided by the court.

The Crown Court judge's decision in relation to the rapes of 2 young girls was made public and the rapists were convicted but a custodial sentence was not handed down by the judge. the Crown Court judgement has therefore concluded and is no longer 'sub judice".

That none custodial sentence caused a national outcry last week and one of the girls appeared anonymously with her mother on lK show on Sunday- it was harrowing to listen to about her.

However I understand the lower Crown Court Judge's conviction and direction has been referred to the higher Court of Appeal, to be reviewed by the Attorney General which Starmer said is right to do.

There is no national outcry regarding Nowak's murder conviction as it is not yet known, the mater is sill sub judice. There is national interest in the case but the full facts are not et known regarding any police misconduct handling concerns as . the IOPC investigation has not yet concluded. The Judge's sentence for Digwa is still sub judice in the Crown Court therefore it would be remiss of Starmer to comment on that and remiss to comment on the IOPC investigation until it has concluded. .

I would have thought Starmer might realise that this case plays into the hands of people who are already all too willing to fight, would have poured oil on troubled waters.