The police watchdog was under mounting pressure on Wednesday to investigate the officers who handcuffed stabbed student Henry Nowak as he lay dying.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp led calls for the officers who arrested the 18-year-old on bogus racism claims to face a full misconduct investigation.
Footage of the dying student gasping ‘I’ve been stabbed’ as he was pinned down by police who scoffed ‘Don’t think you have, mate’, has prompted outrage.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has already spent the six months since Mr Nowak’s death examining the circumstances of the appalling case.
But the watchdog is not investigating the conduct of the individual officers, instead treating them as ‘witnesses’ in its inquiry.
Henry, a first-year student at the University of Southampton, was stabbed five times by Vickrum Digwa, 23, who told officers that he had been racially abused and attacked.
Police were last night braced for escalating disorder across the country over last December’s attack. There were ugly scenes of violence following protests that began outside a Southampton police station on Tuesday night.
Last night it was revealed that one in seven officers and staff in the Hampshire force had felt ‘controlled and pressured’ to adopt certain ideas in mandatory diversity training. The same number thought ‘mistakes would have been held against me’.
Henry Nowak (pictured) was killed in December 2025 by a Sikh knifeman after he left a university football social in Southampton
Footage of the dying student gasping ‘I’ve been stabbed’ as he was pinned down by police who scoffed ‘Don’t think you have, mate’, has prompted outrage
Vickrum Digwa, 23, who was this week jailed for the teen’s murder, is seen lying to police after stabbing Mr Nowak outside his home
The figures emerged in a survey carried out following the inclusion course, according to documents published by the College of Policing earlier this year.
Yesterday Nigel Farage warned that Tuesday night’s violence and disorder ‘is just the beginning’ and that ‘the division will get worse’.
The Reform UK leader also hit out at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, saying that Britons were ‘living under two-tier policing’ where officers are told to treat ‘different ethnic groups in different ways’.
Mr Philp said it was essential for public confidence that the IOPC widen its probe to consider possible charges against individual officers.
The IOPC is currently investigating Hampshire Police’s arrest of the victim, officers’ use of handcuffs and first aid. But the individual officers concerned have not been served with any notice of investigation or misconduct because the IOPC probe is not currently considering individual wrongdoing.
Mr Philp said: ‘To restore public confidence there needs to be a full IOPC investigation – into the individual officers as well as the force more widely.
‘I’m the first to oppose excessive IOPC investigations into individual officers. But in this case a man was handcuffed as he bled to death, even as he said four times he had been stabbed.
‘The credence given to the false claims by the killer that Henry had racially abused him need to be properly investigated and understood.’
He called for police to ditch a national commitment that ‘racial equity’ should not mean ‘treating everyone the same or being colour blind’ adding: ‘Two-tier policing must end – starting with junking the appalling Police Anti Racism Commitment – which is itself racist.
‘This document requires different ethnic groups to be treated differently. Were these officers following training that flowed from that? The full truth must come out.’
Former home secretary turned Reform MP Suella Braverman said: ‘The evidence already in the public domain, including body-worn camera footage, appears to justify the arrest of the officers involved and an investigation into potential misconduct in public office.
Police riot officers are seen clashing with protestors in Southampton on Tuesday
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp led calls in the House of Commons for the officers who arrested the 18-year-old on bogus racism claims to face a full misconduct investigation
‘Years of race-based training, DEI [Diversity, Equality and Inclusion] ideology and the wider culture created by the Equality Act has led us to this moment. This must be a watershed moment for policing and for Britain.’
Writing in this newspaper yesterday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch compared the case to the fatal stabbing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence by a white gang in April 1993, describing Henry’s death as a ‘seminal moment for Britain’ in the fight against racism.
Stephen’s mother, Baroness Lawrence, said Henry should never have been arrested. The Labour peer told the Lords: ‘My condolence goes out to Henry Nowak’s family. The police should be at fault for what happened on that night.’
Former home secretary Jack Straw warned that police anti-racism guidelines have gone too far since he oversaw the inquiry into the Lawrence murder.
He said there had been an ‘over-correction’ by police and that ‘greater care’ was needed in drafting guidance on race and ‘less notice’ should be taken of ‘vocal pressure groups’.
Yesterday Hampshire Chief Constable Alexis Boon apologised for the first time for his officers’ actions, saying his force is ‘sorry for handcuffing and arresting Henry’.
But he claimed some criticism of the force had been ‘unfair’, stressing the victim’s injuries were so grave he ‘could not be saved’ even if officers had responded immediately to his pleas for help.
He also said the case had ’emotionally impacted’ his officers, adding: ‘People in policing completely empathise with Henry’s family. We completely understand why they are so upset and traumatised.’
But the chief constable insisted: ‘I don’t accept the term of two-tier policing, I don’t recognise it.’
He also revealed that his force was facing an ‘incredible’ level of abuse online and on the streets, following scenes of violence in Southampton on Tuesday night. Mr Farage told Times Radio: ‘The division will get far worse.
‘If we get large numbers of young white males who think the police are prejudiced against them, goodness knows where we go. This has to end.’
The IOPC has been ordered to report its findings on Henry’s death within three months.
Last night director Derrick Campbell said: ‘We are acutely aware of the public interest in this case. This investigation is going to fully establish the circumstances of the case – including whether there may be misconduct on the part of any of the officers involved.
‘The ongoing… speculation risks prejudicing any potential processes and preventing Henry Nowak’s family getting the answers they deserve.’
