The murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa, a weapons-obsessed 23-year-old who has been sentenced to at least 21 years in jail, has led to a firestorm of justified outrage. Anyone watching the bodycam footage of the police arresting and handcuffing Henry – rather than the man who repeatedly stabbed him – while ignoring Henry’s repeated cries for help as he bled out on the ground, can feel nothing but horror.
When he said, again repeatedly, that he had been stabbed. the police officer forcing his hands into the cuffs responded simply: “I don’t think you have, mate”. Hampshire Police have apologised. The police watchdog is investigating what went wrong. On X, Elon Musk has given the case global prominence.
George Floyd’s last words – “I can’t breathe” – became a rallying slogan when he was murdered by a white police officer six years ago in Minneapolis, America. It prompted worldwide Black Lives Matter protests and companies and public bodies in this country to issue statements of solidarity.
Henry’s last words were precisely the same, and yet have provoked none of the same outpouring. Why not? Henry was one of our own, a Brit with his whole life ahead of him. The deafening silence over his death by those who took the knee for George Floyd does little to dispel the sense felt by many that we live in a two-tier Britain.
How did we get here? At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday Keir Starmer accused Nigel Farage of “exploiting” Henry’s murder to “create grievance”. But people are aggrieved. A young boy is dead, and he shouldn’t be. He is dead because a man – who we now know had two years earlier been arrested and released without charge for stealing knives – stabbed Henry in the legs and heart.
But we must also ask why, when he cried for help on the ground, he was disbelieved by police officers, while his murderer’s claims of racial abuse – that the judge has made clear were totally false – were accepted without question. The truth is our police and criminal justice system have been corrupted by DEI ideology. Policing guidance explicitly tells officers to treat ethnic minorities differently. The Police Anti-Racism Commitment published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) commits the police to “respond to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances and experiences”.
The guidance makes clear “It is not enough for us to not be racist” – instead, rates of arrest and charge should be made equal between racial groups, despite levels of criminality being different. It goes on: “It does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).”
This official guidance is nothing short of scandalous. All people want is equality before the law. They want everyone – white or black, Christian, Sikh or Muslim – to be treated equally by police officers when they arrive at the scene of a crime, and then by the courts. Nor is it fair on the police officers themselves who have been force-fed this progressive guidance and which inevitably confuses their natural instincts and clouds their common sense judgement when confronting crime.
What is more, this policing manual is the tip of the iceberg – across the country, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement has led to guidance like it being replicated across public bodies and corporate HR departments.
The death of Henry Nowak has been dystopian – both the murder and the police response to it. We must make it a turning point: the moment we end the pernicious left-wing ideology that has infiltrated our police, the courts and so many of our institutions. In its place, we must restore equality before the law and basic common sense.
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell writes “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” That line should serve as a chilling warning of where we are heading, if we do not learn from Henry’s appalling murder.
- Ameer Kotecha is CEO of the Centre for Government Reform. He was formerly a senior diplomat, serving as the head of the British consulate in Russia 2023-25