UK Home Secretary Criticizes Police Who Handcuffed Victim After Killer Lied About Racist Attack

‘People are rightly asking questions about how the situation was handled,’ Shabana Mahmood said.

A still from body-worn camera footage of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who was dying after being stabbed, being handcuffed in Southampton, England, on Dec. 3, 2025. Hampshire Police

British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has described footage of an 18-year-old student being handcuffed by police while he lay dying as “disturbing and tragic” after it emerged that his killer had falsely claimed that he had been the victim of a racist attack.

Henry Nowak, who was white, was stabbed in Southampton, England, in December 2025, and on June 1, Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh, was jailed for life after a trial that heard he had lied to the police when claiming he had been assaulted by Nowak.