A Sikh killer who murdered a student with a ceremonial knife was reported to police for stealing religious weapons two years earlier, but no-one was charged, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed yesterday for stabbing stranger Henry Nowak, 18, with an eight-inch Sikh dagger he had been carrying in Southampton city centre last December.
He then tricked bungling police officers into arresting his dying victim by accusing him of a racist attack – with his harrowing final moments captured on bodycam footage released last night.
Mr Nowak’s father Mark accused officers of affording the killer ‘decency’ while the way they treated his son was ‘inhumane and degrading’.
The newly released footage showed the teenager desperately telling officers four times, ‘I’ve been stabbed’, to which one policeman replied: ‘I don’t think you have mate’.
Hampshire Police was forced to apologise to Mr Nowak’s family for the blunder and the conduct of the arresting officers is being examined by the police watchdog.
The Daily Mail can now reveal that members of the Sikh community in Southampton reported Digwa to police for stealing ceremonial Shastar blades worth £1,000 in July 2023.
He is alleged to have stolen the blades – which were blunted – from the Gurdwara Khalsa Darbar in Southampton, where he and his brother were acting as teachers of Gatka, a type of Sikh weapons demonstration.
Murderer Vickrum Digwa, 23, had previously been reported to police for stealing weapons, it can be revealed today (Pictured: Digwa at the scene of the murder)
Henry Nowak was a finance student at the University of Southampton and was described as ‘kind and talented’ by his family
It raises fresh questions for Hampshire Police about whether more could have been done to stop weapons-obsessed Digwa before the killing.
A source at the gurdwara told the Daily Mail: ‘We dismissed him as a Gatka teacher in August 2023 and then I reported him to the police for stealing around £1,000 worth of Shahstar which was bought with the community’s money.
‘They continuously lied about this as well. We also had other reports about his behaviour, he was quite aggressive and brutish outside of the gurdwara on the streets – we had lots of concerns.
‘We didn’t think he was a good representative of the Sikh community.
‘They weren’t arrested over the thefts because they are so good at lying. Police only recently got in touch with me before the trial, three years later.
‘I wasn’t shocked (when Digwa was arrested for murder). Dealing with him was probably one of the worst periods of my life, because of his lies, I was so used to his lies. He would lie to my face in a holy place.
‘He thought he was higher than God, because he thought he got away with everything.
‘He would always use some sort of victim tactic – with the police (following Mr Nowak’s murder) it was the race card, with me it was his caste, because he was a lower caste or something.
‘I wasn’t shocked because I knew how bad he was – I would never report anyone to the police for nothing.’
Police bodycam footage shows innocent victim Henry Nowak, 18, being forced into handcuffs by officers after he was stabbed repeatedly by a knife-obsessed Sikh man
Digwa is alleged to have stolen the blades – which were blunted – from the Gurdwara Khalsa Darbar in Southampton
An image issued by the Crown Prosecution Service shows the eight-inch ceremonial dagger used by Digwa
Digwa had told the first officers to arrive on the scene of the stabbing the ‘wicked lie’ that Mr Nowak shouted racist abuse, punched him and knocked off his turban.
The injured student was then arrested as he lay dying on the ground, drowning in his own blood.
Jailing Digwa for life with a minimum term of 21 years yesterday, Judge William Mousley KC told the defendant he had ‘brought shame upon your family and your religion’ and said he was sure that Mr Nowak ‘said nothing racist’.
In an excoriating statement on the steps of the court, Mr Nowak’s father Mark condemned police for not believing his son when he warned them he was fatally injured.
‘Henry did not die with dignity,’ he said. ‘He did not die with the care he deserved. He lost consciousness before anyone believed him.’
He added: ‘Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody. The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading.
‘His murderer, however, was afforded decency – he was believed. He was not handcuffed when arrested, he was not handcuffed when transported to the police station.
‘As far as we understand it, he was never handcuffed at all and as Vickrum Digwa himself told the court while under arrest for Henry’s murder police even took him to the kitchen so he could choose his food.
‘That contrast is unbearable.’
He called for a ‘full, fearless and transparent’ investigation into the police’s catastrophic mishandling of his son’s final moments, adding: ‘Our family should not have to fight for the truth.’
The grieving father said the case ‘painfully demonstrates’ that ‘we need common sense applied to our laws’.
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‘People should not be able to walk openly through the streets of Britain carrying a 21cm blade,’ he said.
The case has caused international outrage, with tech billionaire Elon Musk offering to fund a private prosecution against the police and MPs describing it as a ‘shocking example of two-tier policing’.
There have been calls for a ban on Sikhs being allowed to carry ceremonial knives, while the Independent Office for Police Conduct is also assessing how the officers acted that night.
Mr Nowak’s father said some officers involved in the arrest remained on duty, ‘although we understand some may since have resigned’.
‘One was allowed to leave the force before she had given an account to the Independent Office of Police Conduct of what happened that evening,’ he said.
The judge told the defendant that being able to wear a knife in public was a ‘privilege’ that came with a ‘huge responsibility’, adding it was ‘fundamental principle’ of Sikhism that the knife was ‘never to be carried for an offensive purpose’.
In a statement released today, the family of Digwa apologised to the family of Mr Nowak and for bringing the Sikh Community into ‘disrepute’.
The family said: ‘The loss of a young life is a grief that no family should ever have to carry. We are deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the Nowak family has had to endure.
‘We love Vickrum. We will continue to love him. That love does not stand in opposition to the sorrow we feel for the Nowak family. Both are real, and both will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
‘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.
‘We apologise to the Sikh community for our son’s actions which have unfairly brought the community into disrepute.
‘We ask that this tragedy is not used by anyone to inflame division or hostility towards any community.
‘We now ask for privacy as we come to terms with what lies ahead.’
Hampshire Police have today hit out at ‘calls for mob or vigilante justice’ and the wrongful targeting of its officers over the case.
A spokesperson for Hampshire Police Federation said: ‘The murder of Henry Nowak was a tragedy, our thoughts are with his family and friends.
‘The officers’ actions that night are subject to rigorous independent scrutiny and we must let that process run its course.
‘The Police Federation condemns in the strongest possible terms the calls for mob or vigilante justice against officers we have seen in recent days.
‘That has included police officers being wrongly identified as being involved in the incident and personal details such as home address being widely published.
‘We call on politicians of all parties and media commentators to be more responsible in their comments – and allow due process for the officers involved to ensue.
‘As a staff association we are supporting all Hampshire Police officers and we urge all our members to take appropriate action online and offline to stay safe.’
A Hampshire Police spokesman said:
‘We received a report on 25 August 2023 of an alleged theft at the Sikh gurdwara in Burgess Road.
‘It was reported that between 23 July and 21 August of that year, Martial Arts lesson equipment including blunt weapons were taken from the temple.
‘Police investigated this incident and followed up all available lines of enquiry.
‘As part of enquiries, two men in their 20s were arrested on suspicion of theft.
‘Following a review of all the evidence, both men were subsequently released with no further action.’
