New bodycam footage shows Henry Nowak killer’s arrest and repeated lies to police

The lies told by the man who killed Henry Nowak have been exposed in newly obtained police body-worn video from the night of his death, released following a request by the BBC.

Vickrum Digwa was jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years for the murder of the 18-year-old Southampton university student after stabbing him multiple times last December.

The new footage shows Digwa’s repeated and insistent “wicked lies” to officers about having been “racially attacked” and his false claims that Henry was “obviously drunk”.

It also backs an assertion by the Nowak family that Digwa was “never handcuffed”, as Henry was while he lay dying. The contrast in the men’s treatment by Hampshire police was described as “unbearable” by the family.

Previously released video of Henry in handcuffs caused national outrage and sparked violent disorder in Southampton.

Hampshire police has also confirmed to BBC South that Digwa was “never handcuffed” during his four days in custody prior to being charged.

In a statement read outside court earlier this month, Henry’s father Mark Nowak, whose family comes from Chafford Hundred in Essex, compared his son’s “inhumane and degrading” treatment by police, to the “decency” officers showed his murderer.

In the additional footage, Digwa repeats his false claims he had been defending himself, that Henry was drunk, had “barged” into him, called him by an offensive racial word and told him he thought he was a “bad man”.

“I said ‘yeah I am a bad man’. He then started recording me,” he continued.

“Obviously then I’ve just [inaudible] I pushed him. He’s then grabbed me, then started grabbing my turban, pulled my hair, started grabbing my hair, started punching me and all this sort of stuff.”

Southampton Crown Court heard that on the night he was stabbed, Henry’s blood alcohol level had been low enough to pass a breathalyser test.

Digwa never mentions that he has stabbed Henry multiple times, so officers failed to believe Henry when he told them he had been stabbed and it took eight minutes to find the fatal stab wound in his chest.

During Digwa’s murder trial, the jury heard that he repeated his false account of events to police in the days after his arrest; that Henry had knocked his turban off and that “with his hair in his eyes, he stabbed out twice, but acted in self-defence”.

Images from video evidence, taken after Henry was stabbed and before police arrived, showed Digwa’s hair “tied up on his head neatly”, while on officers’ bodycam footage on arrival it was “undone and hanging loose”.

It demonstrated Digwa’s claims were untrue, a prosecutor told the court, and showed his “dishonest claim of self defence taking root from the outset”.

The latest footage, released to the BBC by the Crown Prosecution Service and Hampshire police, is marked as beginning at 23:47 GMT; a time when medics have just arrived and are taking over CPR attempts from police officers who had been trying to save Henry’s life.

As resuscitation efforts continue, Digwa complains about the flashing emergency vehicle lights, asking the male officer questioning him to “turn the flashes off”. When he is told “no, we can’t I’m afraid”, he asks if they could move “so it’s not too much in my eyesight”.

The officer then runs through and checks Digwa’s personal details via radio – these were muted by police in the nine-minute long footage.

It is after the officer and a female colleague discuss a video filmed by bystanders that Digwa is arrested.

When the male officer addresses Digwa again, he says: “This is really important, OK. The time now is 11.55.”

Digwa complains: “I’m tired.”

Officer: “OK, it’s important mate, alright. At this time, I’m arresting you on suspicion of attempted murder OK?”

Digwa: “What?”

Officer: “You don’t have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court.”

Digwa: “What do you mean attempted murder? Why am I getting arrested?”

Officer: “Anything you do say may be given in evidence. OK? The necessity is for a prompt and effective investigation, OK? And preventing further harm and injury.

“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?”

As the video draws to a close medics were continuing their attempts to resuscitate Henry, until he is eventually declared dead at 00:37 GMT on 4 December 2025.

The video ends before Digwa is put in a police van, but Hampshire police confirmed to the BBC that he was “never handcuffed”, just as the Nowak family first disclosed after his sentencing.

In a statement, Mark Nowak said: “He was never handcuffed at all and as Vickrum Digwa himself told the court, whilst under arrest for Henry’s murder, police even took him to the kitchen so he could choose his food.

“The contrast is unbearable.”

Before sentencing Digwa, Judge William Mousley KC said Henry was a “much-loved, kind, hard-working and ambitious young man”.

Speaking directly to Digwa, he stated the teenager was “filming you” and “you… grabbed his phone, removing it from him”.

He continued: “It would not be unreasonable to conclude that Henry would have wanted his phone back, believing it had been stolen from him or that he had been robbed. That may have led to a physical struggle between you and him.”

He told Digwa, Henry had been “defenceless” and said: “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.”

Hampshire police apologised to the Nowak family for the way Henry was treated by its officers and an investigation into their actions by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is under way.

The attorney general’s office has referred Digwa’s minimum 21-year life sentence to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme and a full inquest into Henry Nowak’s death is due to be held in Winchester next year.