Henry Nowak’s family want ‘common sense’ policing ‘to bring society together’, says Kemi Badenoch after meeting… with PM due to hold talks in No10 later
Kemi Badenoch insisted Henry Nowak’s family wanted ‘common sense’ policing today after speaking to his grieving parents.
The Conservative leader praised the ‘extraordinary courage’ of the murdered student’s father, mother and stepmother after meeting them.
He said they were keen on Henry’s memory ‘to help bring our society together’ rather than ‘tearing our communities apart’.
The talks come after violence broke out in Southampton amid protests over the treatment of the 18-year-old.
In the sad footage, it was seen that the police handcuffed the stabbed young man dying on the street and ignored his call for help.
The killer, who was this week sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years, had lied about being the victim of Mr Nowak’s racist attack.
Some point to police equality guidance for treatment. Nigel Farage called on people to show ‘cold anger’ and insisted ‘white lives matter’.
But Keir Starmer, who will later meet the family in person at No10, denied Britain has a ‘two-tier’ policing system.
Police body camera footage shows innocent 18-year-old victim Henry Nowak being forcibly handcuffed by police officers after he was stabbed multiple times by a knife-obsessed Sikh man.
Killer Vickrum Digwa is seen lying to police when he says he ripped off the teenager’s hijab during a racist attack
Henry Nowak’s family want to ‘rebuild trust’ in police after meeting grieving parents, Kemi Badenoch insisted today
Sir Keir said Mr Farage was only ‘pretending’ to respect the bereaved family’s wishes.
He also accused billionaire X owner Elon Musk of trying to ‘whip up division’ and said Britain should ‘put forward who we are’ as ‘reasonable, tolerant people’.
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister will meet Henry Nowak’s family in Downing Street later today.’
Ms Badenoch said of the family: ‘They have suffered the most terrible loss, this is a life sentence for them.
‘They also faced the painful decision to release the harrowing body-worn camera footage, knowing how painful it would be and how harshly people would react.
‘They did this because they wanted truth, accountability and change. They asked us to work across political parties and religions to rebuild trust in the police.
‘That trust has been broken because of what happened and I agree with them on that.’
Ms Badenoch said: ‘We must also be prepared to carefully and seriously examine religious practices or exemptions that allow dangerous weapons to be carried in public and other activities that are not in the public interest.
‘We also need to examine where the law needs to be changed. Henry’s family doesn’t want anger to tear communities apart.
‘They are a family with friends of different faiths and races, and so does Henry.
‘His family wants his memory to help bring our community together. Everyone knows that I have strong views on how we should handle equality before the law.
‘What the family agreed with me was that we need to bring common sense back and we all need to fight for that. ‘I have promised the family that we will work to ensure Henry has a positive legacy from this tragedy.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has called for officers who arrested the 18-year-old last December over false allegations of racism to face a full misconduct investigation.
A minister this morning insisted that suggesting there are ‘two tiers’ of policing is a ‘defamation’ of the police.
But chief treasury secretary Lucy Rigby said looking again at police equality guidance was ‘the right thing to do’.
Murdered student’s father praises mother and stepmother’s ‘extraordinary courage’ after meeting them
He told Sky News: ‘I actually think it’s a smear on the thousands of police officers who go to work every day, who put themselves in danger to serve the public, to try to prevent crime and to keep us all safe.
‘So, in light of that, I think the suggestion that we have a two-tier system of policing inherently implies that the police favor the interests of one group over another on some sort of systemic basis.
‘I truly think this is an insult to all police officers who serve this country day and night, seven days a week.’
Asked whether it was possible that the NPCC’s guidance on policing was creating an unequal system, he said: ‘I think it is right that that guidance is taken into consideration because, as you know, the fundamental principle that we have in this country is equality before the law.’
