JD Vance blames Henry Nowak murder on ‘invasion of migrants’

JD Vance claimed that the “immigrant invasion” in Europe was responsible for the murder of Henry Nowak in Southampton.

The US vice president said the 18-year-old could still be alive if Europeans “stood their ground” against the “politics of self-hatred”.

No 10 responded after Mr Vance’s comments, saying the fallout from Mr Nowak’s murder showed outside actors were “trying to interfere with our democracy”.

Body camera footage from the night Mr Nowak was fatally stabbed by Vickrum Digwa shows police handcuffing him as he lay on the ground after his killer falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist attack, despite his repeated insistence that he could not breathe. He died shortly after.

In the Trump administration’s latest response to the murder, Mr. Vance said: “Henry Nowak died the way a civilization died: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared about him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit.

“His murder is as tragic as it is enraging.

“He should still be alive today, and he would be alive if the last few generations of European elites had stood up to the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of immigrants, many of whom despised the West and the people who loved it.”

In response to JD Vance’s comments, No 10’s spokesman said: “In recent days we have seen people trying to interfere with our democracy and incite division on our streets.

“The Nowak family is in mourning after Henry’s horrific murder.

“They said they did not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We need to respect their wishes.

“Our politics must bring people together, even in the most dire circumstances. That’s who we are as a country.”

Mr. Vance’s comments followed the Trump administration’s call for an end to “two-tiered” policing practices in the wake of Mr. Nowak’s murder.

The US state department wrote in a post on

“The United States extends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”

Downing Street rejected “any proposal for two-tier policing across the UK”.

The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the UK government for its immigration policies. Mr Vance called on anti-immigration activists to “keep going” after tens of thousands of people turned out at a rally in London last month.

Also at the United Nations meeting in New York in September last year, Trump said Britain and Europe would “go to hell” over immigration and dismissed climate change as “the greatest fraud ever committed on the face of the earth”.

Mr Nowak’s family also called on politicians to rebuild trust in the police, insisting they “did not want outrage to tear communities apart” after their son’s killing.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has stressed that Britain must resist attempts to “divide the country”. In a post about

Digwa was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a 21cm ceremonial knife he carried as part of his Sikh religion.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating Hampshire Police’s response to Mr Nowak’s case.