Indian-origin Sikh man gets life term for killing Southampton student Henry Nowak

The case centres on the killing of Nowak, who was returning home alone after a night out with friends from his football team on December 3, 2025.

Nowak, from Chafford Hundred in Essex and the first member of his family to attend university, encountered Digwa on Belmont Road in Southampton’s Portswood area at around 11.30 pm.

According to evidence presented during the trial, Nowak filmed Digwa carrying a large 21-cm blade described in court as a “shastar”, a Punjabi term for a weapon. The blade was being carried openly in a sheath over Digwa’s clothing. A smaller ceremonial kirpan was also reportedly worn beneath his clothes.

The encounter escalated rapidly. Prosecutors said Digwa chased the unarmed teenager and stabbed him five times, inflicting fatal injuries to his heart and lungs. Nowak tried to escape by climbing a fence but collapsed nearby. He died about 67 minutes after the attack.

The case drew widespread attention after it emerged that police initially treated the dying student as a suspect.

When officers arrived, Digwa allegedly claimed that Nowak was drunk, racially abusive and had knocked off his turban. Accepting that account, officers handcuffed the severely injured teenager while he lay bleeding on the ground. Body-camera footage later showed the delay before officers realised Digwa’s version was false and began administering CPR.

Hampshire Police subsequently issued a public apology and referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for investigation.

Outside court, Nowak’s father, Mark, spoke emotionally about the family’s loss, saying his son “did not die with dignity” and calling for a transparent inquiry into the police response.

Digwa denied murder during the trial, claiming he acted in self-defence and feared Nowak would seize the blade and use it against him. The jury rejected that defence and convicted him on May 28 of murder and possession of a bladed article in public.

Sentencing Digwa on June 1, Judge William Mousley KC described Nowak as a “much-loved, kind, hard-working and ambitious young man” whose future had been stolen. The judge said Digwa had brought “misery and a lifetime of loss” to the victim’s family.

Among the aggravating factors cited by the court were Digwa’s false account to police, described as a “wicked” lie about a dying man, his carrying of a large blade in public and what the court termed a “weapon obsession”. Police later recovered the murder weapon from the family’s home in St Denys Road along with more than 20 other weapons.

Kaur was convicted after prosecutors proved she had removed the murder weapon from the scene and taken it home. Court proceedings also heard that family members, including Digwa’s brother, repeated allegations of racism during emergency calls made after the incident.

Although Digwa had no previous criminal convictions, prosecutors portrayed him as being obsessed with weapons and maintaining a substantial collection of blades. They stressed that while British law permits Sikhs to carry a small kirpan discreetly as an article of faith, the blade used in the killing was not a religious necessity and was carried as a weapon.

Little has emerged publicly about Digwa’s background beyond evidence that he had been helping with his brother’s Deliveroo work earlier that day. He was described in court as sober at the time of the attack.

The case has also sparked broader discussions across Britain. Community organisations and politicians have debated the country’s knife crime problem, with some describing it as a national emergency. Sikh groups, including the Sikh Federation UK, condemned the misuse of the blade, emphasising that it was not a standard religious kirpan and warning that the case had contributed to an increase in anti-Sikh hate incidents.