The home secretary has warned “misinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation even worse” after footage from the night of the murder of Henry Nowak sparked fury and prompted Nigel Farage to call for people to respond to the atrocity with “pure cold rage”.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Shabana Mahmood revealed that a police officer wrongly identified as being involved in the case has received death threats and been forced into hiding.
Earlier, Hampshire Police Federation condemned calls for “vigilante justice” against officers, after chilling video footage from the night Mr Nowak was killed shows how police handcuffed and arrested him as he lay on the floor, despite the victim’s repeated pleas that he had been stabbed and warnings that he could not breathe. He died shortly after.
Vickrum Digwa fatally stabbed the 18-year-old student in December 2025 with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade after falsely accusing him of a racist attack. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years at Southampton Crown Court on Monday.
The teenager’s murder has led outcry from politicians, including Mr Farage, who likened Mr Nowak’s treatment to the killing of George Floyd and said it was evidence of a “two-tier culture”.
In a video statement on Tuesday, the Reform UK leader called for a recognition that “white lives matter” as he referred to the Black Lives Matter movement which followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Mr Farage said Mr Nowak was “actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder”.
“Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives,” he added.
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said there was “no such thing as two-tier policing” and Ms Mahmood told MPs that it is not helpful to pit different communities against one another.
“I have made very clear from this despatch box, and over the course of my tenure as home secretary, to say all are equal before the law, and the police must always act without fear and without favour towards any one group”, the home secretary said.
“I don’t think it’s helpful for us to start pitting either majority or different minority communities against one another. That is not what this moment requires.”
Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch earlier told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Mr Farage was “taking sides” and accused him of “whipping people up”.
“It is making me angry because that’s not how we solve this”, she said.
“We can’t solve it by whipping people up. We can’t solve it by making them angry.
“Nigel Farage is taking sides. I’m not taking sides. I’m saying enough of this. We need to stop this racialising of our society.
“We are multiracial yes, but we need to stop using race as a way of defining laws … Let’s treat everyone equally.”
Digwa’s family have apologised to the family of Mr Nowak and for bringing the Sikh community into “disrepute”, but said the tragedy should not be used to “inflame division or hostility towards any community”.
In a statement issued through Sikh PA, a charity which represents the Sikh community in the media, the family said: “The loss of a young life is a grief that no family should ever have to carry. We are deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the Nowak family has had to endure.
“We love Vickrum. We will continue to love him. That love does not stand in opposition to the sorrow we feel for the Nowak family. Both are real, and both will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
“We would give anything to turn back time so the path of both Henry and Vickrum never crossed that night. We cannot change what has happened, we just hope that no further pain is caused in its name.
“We apologise to the Sikh community for our son’s actions, which have unfairly brought the community into disrepute.”
They added: “We ask that this tragedy is not used by anyone to inflame division or hostility towards any community.”
A group of 11 Sikh MPs said they stand in solidarity with Mr Nowak’s family following the “senseless and tragic” incident.
“This case was about the murder of Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa. It was not about religion or racism,” their statement said.
It went on: “At a time when emotions are understandably raw, we urge people not to allow the actions of one murderer to divide communities or fuel hostility towards innocent people.”
Use of a Sikh ceremonial weapon to kill was a “vile act”, Ms Mahmood said, but she warned those who share his faith must not face condemnation for a murder they did not commit.
Police and crime commissioner for Hampshire Donna Jones has said she is leading calls for a review of religious exemptions on the carrying of knives after Mr Nowak’s murder.
The 18-year-old was stabbed with a knife Digwa carried as part of his Sikh religion.
In a statement, Ms Jones said “Central to this incident is the fact that Vickrum Digwa was able to carry a knife in public because there is an exemption for those who observe the Sikh faith to carry ceremonial daggers.
“I intend to write to the prime minister to request a national review of the laws concerning the carrying of bladed articles under religious exemptions.”
Mr Farage said he sent one of “multiple requests” for Digwa’s sentence to be reviewed under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme, while a police watchdog probe into how officers responded to the murder will report back within the next three months, according to Ms Mahmood.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating the handling of the case, but it has said officers are being treated as witnesses at this stage.
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