Newly released video shows moment Henry Nowak’s Sikh killer repeatedly lies to police telling them his dying victim was ‘racist, drunk and hadn’t been stabbed’ – as cop tells him, ‘I know mate’

Newly released bodycam footage today reveals the lies Vickrum Digwa told police after killing Henry Nowak – and how differently he was treated to the young man he murdered.

Digwa falsely accused Henry of being racist, claiming he had called him a ‘p*ki’ and acted as the drunken aggressor who ‘escalated the situation’ – as he stood unhandcuffed while medics performed CPR just yards away.

An officer at the scene repeatedly calls the attacker ‘mate’ and, moments after arresting him, reassures him: ‘I’m not saying you’ve done anything.’

Digwa again insists: ‘But I’ve been racially attacked.’ The officer replies: ‘I know, mate, I know.’

The previously unseen footage also shows that, despite being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, Digwa was never handcuffed.

In contrast, Mr Nowak was restrained on the ground as he bled to death, repeatedly saying: ‘I can’t breathe.’ He also told an officer he had been stabbed – only to be told: ‘Don’t think so, mate.’

Digwa told what have been confirmed to be ‘wicked lies’ about Henry, trying to portray him as the aggressor and a racist. 

He never tells officers he stabbed him and claims any wounds were because he ‘fell over’.

The footage also shows Digwa’s hair tied neatly on top of his head. But by the time police swarmed the scene, footage shown in court reveals it was hanging loose – in a cynical and cruel attempt to support his claim that Henry had torn off his turban.

He told officers: ‘He grabbed me, then started grabbing my turban, pulled my hair, started punching me and all this sort of stuff.’

In the video, Digwa also claims Henry’s injuries were caused by him climbing on bins and ‘stumbling around’ – rather than being stabbed at least six times with a ceremonial Sikh sword.

Amid the ongoing row over ‘two-tier justice’ in Britain, the new footage further supports claims made by Henry’s family that the two men were treated differently by Hampshire Police – something they have rightly described as ‘unbearable’.

The footage, released to the BBC by police and the CPS, shows scenes at 11.47pm as paramedics try to save Henry after officers handcuffed him and failed to believe his claims he had been stabbed.

Digwa’s father Moga Singh can be heard explaining to the police: ‘My son’s just been assaulted. The gentleman that’s on the floor assaulted my son.’ 

As ambulance workers carry out CPR, police speak to Vickrum Digwa, who immediately claims he was attacked for being Sikh.

‘He pushed my turban off my head, started grabbing my hair. I’m a Sikh, obviously,’ he said.

‘He was grabbing at my hair, dragging me around, and from there an altercation happened. He’s started stumbling around.

‘I saw him from the get-go. I was like, ‘Mate, you’re clearly drunk. Carry on with your day.’ He then escalated the situation, calling me a ‘p*ki’ and all that sort of stuff.’

He then claimed his family had repeatedly suffered racist attacks in the past.

‘This isn’t the first time something like this has happened,’ he said, adding: ‘We’ve lived here since I was four and five and I’ve had it recently.’

As Henry lies dying behind him, Digwa complains about the blue lights from emergency vehicles.

He then asks police to ‘turn the flashes off… so it’s not too much in my eyesight’.

They moved and Digwa continued: ‘This isn’t the first time we’ve had altercations. Not even altercations, we’ve had people racially attack us during the morning.’

An officer asked: ‘Do you know how he’s got that wound then?’

Digwa responded: ‘What wound, sorry?’

The officer clarified: ‘Well you said he’s got blood on him, how’s he… how’s he?’

Digwa lied in his answer, saying: ‘It must have been when we punched him. Must have been when we punched him.

‘But he did fall over here, so he was climbing all over these bins and stuff like that and then he’s fell over and landed onto that car.’

The nine-minute video is then muted as officers check his personal details.

A male officer then speaks to him, saying: ‘This is really important, OK? The time now is 11.55.’

Digwa replies: ‘I’m tired.’

The officer continues: ‘OK, it’s important, mate. At this time, I’m arresting you on suspicion of attempted murder, OK?’

Digwa appears shocked as the officer reads him his rights.

He says: ‘What do you mean, attempted murder? Why am I getting arrested?’

The officer replies: ‘You’ve got your side of the story, mate. We don’t know what’s gone on here, OK? So we need to find out, OK?’

Digwa again says: ‘But I’ve been racially attacked.’

The officer replies: ‘I know, mate, I know,’ before adding: ‘I’m not saying you’ve done anything, mate.’

Hampshire Police has now apologised to Henry’s family for the way officers treated him before he died.

An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has been launched.

When Judge William Mousley KC sentenced Digwa, he told him: ‘I am sure that Henry had said nothing racist. You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely at odds with his previous character.’ 

Police took eight minutes to find the stab wound that killed Henry Nowak, it emerged this week. 

The 18-year-old bled to death last December after being handcuffed by officers who believed claims by his Sikh killer, 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, that he had racially abused him. 

Bodycam footage, which sparked riots in Southampton, showed officers initially ignoring the dying teenager when he said he had been stabbed, with a male officer telling him ‘I don’t think you have, mate’. 

Amid intense public criticism of the police response, Hampshire Police has released a transcript of the full recording. It reveals the moment officers realised Henry was not breathing, prompting frantic efforts to save him. 

The transcript begins with Henry lying on a gravel drive with his hands cuffed behind him. At that point, officers had been at the scene for around three minutes and had called for an ambulance. 

The male officer says, ‘I’m not sure he’s breathing’, before checking Henry’s pulse and confirming, ‘He’s not breathing’. 

He then removes the handcuffs as his female colleague tells medics to bring a defibrillator. 

The two officers start to move Henry, accidentally hitting his head on a wall, before they take turns carrying out chest compressions while telling the teenager to ‘stay with us’.

Medics on the phone give the officers CPR advice, telling them to ‘push, push, push’. Ambulance teams arrive but officers continue giving CPR until the medics are ready to step in. 

As they start to cut Henry’s clothing from his chest, the officers are horrified to see blood coming from his nose, and become increasingly panicked. 

After all of Henry’s clothes are cut away, the extent of his injuries becomes even more apparent. 

‘Has he been stabbed there?’ the male officer asks, before saying he was ‘pushing on a [swear word] stab wound’. 

When a paramedic runs up to them, the male police officer explains they have ‘just discovered a stab wound’ in Henry’s chest. 

Around nine minutes after police arrived at the scene, the transcript ended at 11.46pm on December 3, 2025, when paramedics took over. 

The transcript, obtained by the BBC, comes amid an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) into the way officers responded to Henry’s stabbing. 

At Digwa’s sentencing, Judge William Mousley KC said: ‘The genuine shock to the particular police officer, when he realised that he had been giving CPR to Henry when he had a serious chest wound tends to show that he was doing his best in a very difficult situation’.

He also described how officers had been given a ‘convincing but wholly false narrative’ of the incident.

Police have apologised to Henry’s family but said the pathologist who spoke in court was clear ‘there was nothing officers could have done that day to save Henry’ as his fatal wound had caused ‘extensive’ internal bleeding. 

The teenager’s treatment sparked fresh claims of ‘two-tier policing’, with critics suggesting officers had disbelieved Mr Nowak when he said he had been stabbed, because he was white.  

Current National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidance highlights a need for ‘not treating everyone the same or being colour-blind’.

Sir Stephen Watson, the anti-woke Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, has called for the guidance to be ‘revisited’ to rebut accusations officers are treating people unfairly. 

He said: ‘Fairness isn’t getting involved in the language of activism and social engineering.

‘It’s that which led us into conflict with the perception of reality. I certainly understand how it came about and I’m certainly concerned that we address that.’

Referring to NPCC guidelines, Sir Stephen said: ‘We have in some contexts adopted the language of activism.

‘This is something we need to revisit, refresh and make sure that whatever we produce has the effect of doubling down on our impartiality.’

Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade, that he claimed he carried as part of his Sikh religion.

He had previously been investigated by police in 2023 on suspicion of stealing ceremonial blades from a Sikh temple in Southampton but no further action was taken.

His comments come after Henry’s family, who have met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, said they want a return to ‘common-sense policing’.

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch criticised police for replacing ‘thinking with box ticking’.

Speaking earlier this month, she said officers are juggling ‘race action plans, political pressure and activist expectations’ – and criticised policing’s senior leaders, ‘who have allowed these ill-advised frameworks to take hold’.

Mrs Badenoch said ‘just like Stephen (Lawrence’s) shocking killing in 1993, Henry’s death at the hands of an assailant who lied about claims of racism needs to be a turning point.’