Misinformation about Henry Nowak murder aggravates public tensions

A wave of misinformation has erupted online following the sentencing of 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, who was jailed for life on 1 June for killing 18-year-old university student Henry Nowak.

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Nowak’s killing, which happened in the southern English coastal city of Southampton in December 2025, has sparked an intense public debate about policing and knife laws in the United Kingdom.

It has also been seized by politicians across Europe, with one Polish far-right politician claiming that the case symbolises “Europe condemning itself to death”.

The case has opened the door to a dangerous wave of misinformation with real-life human consequences: police officers who were not involved in the case have suffered death threats and been forced into hiding, amid public outrage about how the police who did arrive on the murder scene handled the matter.

On the night of the killing, Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed that he had been the victim of a racist assault when he called the police to the crime scene after stabbing Nowak four times.

Once they arrived, bodycam footage released by the police reveals that they treated Nowak as a suspect — handcuffing him and ignoring his pleas of pain — before they acknowledged his life-threatening injury and attempted to resuscitate him.

Death threats and forced hiding: Misinformation targets police officers

Police officers who were not present at the scene of the crime have been incorrectly identified in social media posts, with some of them racking up more than a million views.

Former police officer Christi Hill — who left the police force in April 2024, more than one and a half years before Nowak’s killing — was among those misidentified in posts shared on Facebook, X and Instagram in a range of languages, including German.

One specific picture of Hill standing alongside a former colleague has been widely disseminated in an attempt to claim that she was one of the officers called to the crime scene.

“The confusion stems from a national police bravery award media release. A photo of myself and a former colleague who has also been wrongfully targeted is being repeatedly shared and misattributed to this case,” she explained in a LinkedIn statement shared on 3 June.

Hill was also wrongly identified by X’s AI chatbot Grok, which replied to users’ queries by affirming that she was one of the police officers there when Nowak died.

“It is deeply unsettling to have my name wrongly attached to such a high-profile and sensitive matter,” she said. “My primary thoughts remain with the family affected by this tragedy. They deserve justice and clarity, not the noise of online misinformation.”

At least one other misidentified police officer has received death threats and had to relocate to protect his family.

“We know there has been significant commentary following the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa, and we recognise the desire for answers about the police response that night,” a spokesperson for Hampshire Police told Euronews’ fact-checking team, The Cube.

“However, what we cannot accept is the significant spread of misinformation online by those intent on causing further fear and division by making threats to officers and sharing names that are simply not true,” the spokesperson added.

Hill was also wrongly associated with a widely disseminated image across social media platforms and fringe websites, which purports to show a screenshot from bodycam footage at the crime scene with an officer’s hand with sharp nails.

The image — shared in many languages, including French, German and Polish, but also by Robert Jenrick, an MP from the British far-right Reform UK party — has in fact been digitally manipulated, as a comparison with the authentic footage reveals.

Confusion over the weapon used

Several widely shared online posts have linked Nowak’s murder to the legal exemption in the UK that allows initiated Sikhs to carry a blade, known as a kirpan, for religious reasons, as long as they are not longer than nine inches (23cm).

It has also sparked public debate, with politicians from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party calling for the Sikhs’ kirpan exemption to be revoked. Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner — who oversees law enforcement in Southampton — has also called for a review of these provisions.

Differing claims about the use of the kirpan in Nowak’s murder have amplified confusion.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said at trial that Digwa was carrying two ceremonial blades when he carried out the attack, describing them both as “kirpans”.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge William Mousley KC said Digwa carried the kirpan required by the Sikh faith for initiated Sikhs under his clothing, as well as a “large dagger in a sheath”, which he also described as a “large Sikh dagger”. This larger dagger was eight inches long and was what Digwa used to kill Nowak.

The Nihang order of Sikhs has a tradition of carrying this second knife, but the judge noted that this is “not a strict requirement”, adding that Digwa had “abused the privilege extended to Sikhs to have a knife in a public place for religious reasons”, casting dishonour on his religion and putting “others at risk of repercussions”.

The UK’s Sikh Federation subsequently shared a press release which stated the knife used by Digwa was not a traditional kirpan but a 21cm pesh-kabz, which it described as a historic South Asian blade.

Speaking to The Cube, Jagbir Jhutti Johal, a Sikh Studies scholar from the University of Birmingham, reiterated that the knife used by Digwa should be distinguished from the kirpan, which is one of the articles of faith worn by initiated Sikhs, known as the “Five Ks”.

“The kirpan is typically understood as a small, curved, single-edged blade, often between 3 and 8 inches in total length including the sheath and handle, and frequently even smaller. There is no single mandated size,” Johal said. “It is ordinarily worn beneath clothing and is not generally visible in public.”

The weapon carried by Digwa, according to Johal, was not one of the Five Ks but better understood as a “Sikh ceremonial or martial blade associated with the broader martial-shastar tradition”.

“While both have cultural and historical significance within Sikh tradition, they differ in status, intended function, and typical form,” she said. “The kirpan is a required article of faith for all initiated Sikhs, whereas the choora or pesh-kabz is a larger, more explicitly martial weapon that is not part of the Five Ks.”

Nowak’s father, Mark, has called for “stronger action on the sale, the ownership and carrying of all knives.”

“We need real solutions. We need investment in prevention. We need stronger action on the sale, the ownership and carrying of all knives,” he said. “People should not be able to walk openly through the streets of Britain carrying a 21cm blade.”

He also said that he did not want his son’s death “to be used to create further hatred, division or tension.”

The Sikh community has overwhelmingly condemned the murder, with Sikh representatives telling us they were concerned about the real-world consequences of the fallout of the case.

Amandeep Singh, a Sikh educator with charity Basics of Sikhi, said that members of the Sikh community had reported hostility following the case and argued public discussion often failed to distinguish between the kirpan worn by initiated Sikhs and the larger blade used by Digwa.

“The kirpan was never used,” he said.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Mousley said Digwa’s actions had “stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country” and left “many Sikhs worried about their own safety even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong.”