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English police are facing increased scrutiny after officers handcuffed an 18-year-old university student as he lay bleeding to death following a fatal stabbing, reportedly after believing the attacker’s false claim that he was the victim of a racist attack.
The case has sparked outrage across Britain, sparking political debate over policing and calls for the responding officers to release body-worn camera footage.
Alan Mendoza, executive director and co-founder of the London-based Henry Jackson Society think tank, told Fox News Digital that the case reflects wider failures in British policing culture. Mendoza said, “The murder of Henry Novak shows how far the rot of political correctness has penetrated the British policing psyche.”
He said, “The reflex attitude today seems to be to disbelieve any claims that mention racism.” “This clearly exceeds actual murder in this case because the dying Mr. Novak was arrested without any facts being established by the authorities at the instigation of his Sikh attacker.”
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In December 2025, freshman student Henry Novak was stabbed multiple times by Vikram Digva with an eight-inch ceremonial knife. Digva was found guilty of murder last week. (Hampshire Police handout.)
Vikram Digva, 23, was convicted at Southampton Crown Court on Thursday of murdering Henry Novak, an 18-year-old finance student at the University of Southampton, during a confrontation on December 3, 2025.
Officers arriving at the chaotic scene initially considered Novak a suspect after DeGava reportedly claimed she was racially abused and attacked. The officers handcuffed Novak before they realized the severity of his injuries. According to Sky News, he subsequently collapsed and died at the scene despite first aid efforts.
Following the verdict, Hampshire Constabulary publicly apologized and referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), England and Wales’ police oversight, for investigation. “I regret that he was handcuffed and arrested before he even became unconscious,” Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France said in a statement carried by Sky News.
Prosecutors told jurors that DeGava stabbed Novak multiple times using a 21-centimeter blade described in court as a Sikh kirpan-style weapon. DeGwa claimed he acted in self-defense after being racially abused, but jurors rejected that argument and found him guilty of murder.
The case has since sparked fierce public debate online and in the British media over whether the police prioritized allegations of racism over basic investigative and medical procedures.
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Hampshire Police has released a handout photo of Vikram Digva, who was found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of the murder of university student Henry Novak, whom he stabbed to death with a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife. DeGwa told police a “bad lie” that he was the victim of a racist attack when he stabbed finance student Henry Novak, of Chafford Hundred, Essex, five times in Belmont Road, Southampton, on December 3, 2025. Release date: Thursday, May 28, 2026. (Press Association via AP Images)
Speaking on GB News on Friday, Reform UK Member of Parliament Robert Jenrick called for the body-worn camera footage to be released if the Novak family consented.
“Officers chose to prioritize a charge of racial abuse rather than saving this young man’s life,” Jenrick said. “I think that was a terrible mistake.”
Jenrick also criticized what he described as a muted response from the UK political establishment compared to reactions following the death of George Floyd in the United States in 2020.
Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick addresses supporters in Norwich, England, on March 31, 2026. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Reform chairman David Bull are hosting the campaign launch for the Norfolk local elections on 7 May. (Martin Pope/Getty Images)
“The Prime Minister says absolutely nothing. The Home Secretary says absolutely nothing.”
The murder has also raised concerns about hostility towards Britain’s Sikh community, with Sikh organizations calling for distance from the crime.
In a public statement issued after the verdict, Sikh community organizations condemned the killing and stressed that the case should not be seen as representative of the Sikh religion.
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File of a police car in Derbyshire, England. (Derbyshire Constabulary via Facebook)
“Henry’s life was tragically ended by the madness of one man, for which there can be no excuse,” the statement said.
The organizations also acknowledged that “the actions of the police officers, who handcuffed the victim just before he died” had intensified criticism of the police and “unnecessarily incited community hatred.”
The statement further emphasized that the legal protections allowing Sikhs in Britain to carry ceremonial kirpans for religious purposes do not apply when the blade is used in a violent manner.
“We understand that the weapon that may have been used in this case was not the typical kirpan worn by Sikhs,” the statement said.
Mendoza stressed that Britain’s Sikh community widely condemned the killing and supported the investigation.
“It is legal for Sikhs in Britain to carry ceremonial knives, but they are almost always small knives that religious authorities have deemed sufficient to meet the obligation,” Mendoza told Fox News Digital. “He had one of those, as well as his [8 inch] blade.”
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A member of the London Met Police stands guard outside Westminster Abbey. (Ben Stansell/AFP via Getty Images)
He also described Digwa as a “weapons hobbyist”, citing evidence presented during the trial where prosecutors said the defendant had an affinity for knives and weapons.
The IOPC investigation into the officers’ actions is ongoing. Fox News Digital contacted Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
