Outrage over claims police ‘wanted to portray Henry Nowak as the aggressor’ in statement days after his death despite evidence Vickrum Digwa had lied to them

The police force at the center of the Henry Nowak scandal has been criticized for trying to issue a statement ‘portraying him as the attacker’ three days after the murder.

According to information obtained, Hampshire Police planned to release a statement implying that the 18-year-old boy attacked murderer Vickrum Digwa and his brother.

Mr Nowak died in the early hours of December 4 after being stabbed multiple times by Digwa, who was Sikh and lied to police about being the victim of a racially motivated attack.

A police statement issued later the same morning said: ‘Two men were reportedly attacked by an unknown man.’ Officers allegedly told the Nowak family that the next update would also imply that the teen was the first attacker.

However, they later removed the part of the statement that referred only to the ‘controversy’ in its published form. At this point the police had significant evidence that Digwa had lied to them.

Hampshire Police are also said to be at risk of collapsing Digwa’s case by attempting to issue a statement due to so-called ‘disinformation’ while proceedings are ongoing.

But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told police the highly unusual move would risk compromising the ‘integrity’ of the case.

Ameer Kotecha, CEO of the Center for Government Reform, said: ‘These are terrifying new details. As I have said before, the unquestioning credulity of the police in response to Digwa’s false claims of racism shows how deep the DEI rot has become.’

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy MP also criticized the police for threatening the ‘integrity’ of the case.‘Irresponsible statements’

‘Equality before the law should mean that trials are fair, that we all have the same legal rights and are subject to the same rules. Unfortunately, it has been replaced by an ideology that aims to treat us differently based on race or identity.’

Vickrum Digwa (pictured) told cops he was accidentally racially abused and assaulted

Digwa stabbed Mr Nowak with a ceremonial dagger after a night out in Southampton.

Instead of treating the first-year finance student as a victim for Digwa’s false claim that he was a racist thug, officers handcuffed him as he lay on his deathbed.

Digwa was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison on Monday before riots broke out in Southampton a day later.

Hampshire Police said today: ‘Following the opening of the case and subsequent media reports, there has been a significant amount of misinformation and disinformation circulating online.

‘This included requests to share information that had not been fully examined as part of the murder trial.

‘The purpose of the statement was to remind the public that there are legal proceedings ongoing and the law is clear that nothing can be published that could prejudice the case. The decision not to publish was taken on the advice of the CPS.’

The police’s diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies have come under scrutiny amid allegations Mr Nowak’s ‘two-tier’ policing practices are failing.

Last year, West Yorkshire police had 19 staff dedicated to attendance, costing £970,000 in wages and benefits combined. The force also paid more than £360,000 to an external training provider.

Some policies have been inspired by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Royal College of Constabulary’s Police Race Action Plan, published in 2022 following the killing of George Floyd.

They include an ‘About Time’ timeline documenting events related to relations between police and black people. Every force in England and Wales was issued one at a total cost of £97,000.

Meanwhile, the Police College has criticized controversial barrister Dr Dr who criticized police for kicking a Golders Green suspect while arresting him following the stabbing of two Jewish men. Paid £7,700 for Shola Mos-Shogbamimu’s speaking ‘masterclass’.

Harrowing footage of the moment police officers handcuffed Mr Nowak was shared

The Police Race Action Plan has been criticized for suggesting that ethnic minorities should be treated differently than white people.

But Abimbola Johnson, who chaired the review board that oversaw the document, defended it today, insisting that efforts to tackle “institutional racism” did not go far enough.

‘Measurements continue to show racial disparity in key areas of police contact: stop and search, use of force, strip searches, detention, misconduct, workforce experience and public trust,’ he said.

‘The independent review and oversight board’s own work has repeatedly found that progress under the police’s race action plan has been too slow, too inconsistent and too poorly established to meaningfully tackle the racism it was created to tackle.’

It comes after a Sikh lobby group called for a public inquiry into the ‘multi-agency disaster’ failures surrounding Mr Nowak’s death.

Dabinderjit Singh, the Sikh Federation’s head of political activities, wrote to Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood, Justice Minister David Lammy and Attorney-General Richard Hermer calling for an investigation and said misinformation about the murder weapon was ‘extremely damaging’ to Sikhs.

The letter said ‘serious questions’ remained about whether Mr Nowak’s death was preventable and said the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) investigation into Hampshire Police was ‘wholly inadequate’.

“While criminal justice has been achieved against the perpetrator, the broader systemic failures this case has exposed require urgent, independent and transparent investigation,” Mr. Singh wrote.

Police officers’ conduct and cultural issues were among the “multi-agency disaster” failures, he said during the hearing.

“Local intelligence indicates Digwa is well known to law enforcement and is ‘on the police radar,'” he wrote.

‘A wider investigation must establish why this critical intelligence failed to inform the risk assessments of responding officers and whether systemic biases contributed to the instant criminalization of a dying victim.

‘A statutory public inquiry is the only mechanism that can ensure accountability.’

Digwa used a 21cm-long ceremonial knife that prosecutors said during the trial was a kirpan, which he carries as part of his Sikh religion.

While he wore a small ceremonial kirpan blade, his second knife, which the trial judge described as a ‘large Sikh dagger’, was used as the murder weapon.

“Under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and its legal guidance dated July 2022, the kirpan is clearly defined and understood to have a curved blade,” the letter said.

‘The prosecution and police held the gun for more than six months; They knew, or should have known, that the blade of the weapon was not of Sikh origin, that it was straight and could not be a kirpan.

‘By allowing a convicted murderer’s misidentification of a gun to go unchallenged in open court, the justice system has facilitated a hugely damaging wave of misinformation.’

Thousands of Sikhs marched in London on Sunday to mark the 42nd anniversary of the attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, in which hundreds of people were killed.

Mr Singh told the march that attacks on Sikhs had been taking place every day ‘all over the country’ since Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years in prison.

Digwa was investigated by police in 2023 on suspicion of stealing ceremonial knives from a Sikh temple in Southampton but no further action was taken.

The NPCC said it would review its anti-racism guidance.

Six more people were today charged with offenses including violent disorder following Tuesday’s riots in Southampton.