The murder of Henry Nowak has revealed that Britain remains “effectively a tinderbox”, the Irish Times’ London Correspondent has said. 

On Monday, Vickrum Digwa, a member of the Sikh community, was jailed for a minimum term of 21 years for the murder of the 18 year old student in 2025. 

After Digwa stabbed Mr Nowak in Southampton, he told police that it was the teenager who attacked him and that he was the victim of racism. 

Vickrum Digwa

Police then handcuffed Mr Nowak, who told them, “I've been stabbed”, to which one officer replied, “I don’t think you have, mate.” 

Mr Nowak’s family described his treatment by police as “inhumane and degrading” and that seeing how differently he had been treated to Digwa was “unbearable”. 

"Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times,” Mr Nowak’s father, Mark, said.

“He told them that he had been stabbed four times. 

“Henry was pulled across the gravel, his hands forced behind his back and he was placed in handcuffs."

Henry Nowak

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has opened up an investigation and Keir Starmer said there are “searching questions for the police that are going to have to be answered".

The British Prime Minister said that, as the father of a 17 year old boy, he “felt sick” watching the footage.

Henry Nowak was kind, thoughtful and much-loved. His life was stolen from him, leaving his family and loved ones devastated.

The bodycam footage is harrowing. It’s absolutely right that the IOPC is looking at this. There are serious questions for the police to answer. pic.twitter.com/0KVvnR6nK7

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 2, 2026

Reform leader Nigel Farage said people should feel “pure cold rage” about Mr Nowak’s treatment. 

He added that Britain now has a "two tier culture where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities".

Yesterday, several hundred people attended a protest outside Southampton police station, which led to violent clashes with officers. 

Chairs, cans and flares were thrown at police in riot gear, leading to 11 arrests. 

Police form a cordon outside Southampton Central Police Station as locals gather outside during a flash protest. Picture by: Alamy.com.

On The Claire Byrne Show, Mark Paul of the Irish Times said the events of the past few days reveal that Britain remains “effectively a tinderbox, as it was in the summer of 2024”. 

“People on the right wing of British politics, the hard right, like Nigel Farage and also like Tommy Robinson, see this as kind of their George Floyd moment,” he explained. 

“Because Henry Novak, as he lay dying on the ground he said, ‘I can't breathe.’

“I suppose it's symbolic of the George Floyd case of 2020 and it has been used now by people on the British political right, I suppose, to rouse anger amongst their supporters.”

The fear of being called racist was greater than dealing with Henry Nowak’s murder.

We should respond to this with pure cold rage.

Britain’s historic way of life is being thrown away. pic.twitter.com/4N6vL76q1F

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 2, 2026

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, who was first elected as a Reform Party MP, has called for a referendum on the return of the death penalty, describing Digwa as someone who “does not have any place in our society”. 

Overall, Mr Paul said he suspects Mr Farage is “at risk of being outflanked on his right wing” for the first time. 

“It was actually Tommy Robinson who called the protest last night, the impromptu protest in Southampton that followed by the disorder in which there were a couple of people arrested,” he said. 

“Police, as a group of those protesters, attempted to march towards the home of the man who had stabbed Henry Novak.

“We're heading into potentially a long, hot summer here for the British political establishment.”

'Legitimate concerns'

Since Mr Nowak’s death, Britain’s National Police Chiefs' Council has said it will review anti-racism guidance which suggests people from minority backgrounds should be treated differently. 

The NPCC’s chairman said they were "listening to legitimate concerns about how some of these commitments are worded or phrased".

“That has been portrayed by people on the hard right of British politics as something that is a danger to the white British community,” Mr Paul said. 

“And this has been held up as the example of where two-tier policing has effectively turned the tables on white people.”

The Nowak family have said they do not want their son's death to "be used to create further division, hatred or tension" within British society.

Main image: A split of Henry Nowak and protestors. Pictures by: Alamy.com.