Man jailed for murdering student then tricking police into arresting victim

A weapons-obsessed killer has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years for the murder of student Henry Nowak.

Sikh man Vickrum Digwa was jailed at Southampton Crown Court for life on Monday.

A verbal altercation between the family friends of the victims and the killer broke out in the gallery with people shouting ‘stop, stop, stop’ after the verdict was read out.

The 23-year-old was also convicted of carrying a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade in a public place.

He was filmed by his victim telling him: ‘I am a bad man’ moments before the knife attack which included two stab wounds to the back of Mr Nowak’s legs and a fatal wound to his heart.

Giving evidence, the defendant told the court that Mr Nowak, who he described as drunk, had racially abused him before punching him and knocking his turban off.

He said that he had stabbed Mr Nowak to the back of his legs in self-defense after Mr Nowak had threatened him and grabbed him by the hair but said he had not realised at the time he had caused the fatal stab wound to his chest.

But the prosecution said that Digwa had told a ‘wicked lie’ to police who attended the scene by telling them that he had been the victim of a racist attack.

He also ‘lied’ by telling officers that he had not stabbed Mr Nowak despite the student’s pleas for help as he told the police that he was injured.

This led the officers to arrest Mr Nowak and putting him in handcuffs moments before he collapsed and became unconscious before dying despite their efforts to give him first aid.

Nicholas Lobbenberg KC, prosecuting, told the court: ‘Henry Nowak dying alone, humiliated and handcuffed was a direct consequence of Vickrum Digwa’s dishonesty.

‘Vickrum Digwa chose on two occasions to make videos, first of Henry fleeing and then of Henry dying with close-ups of his face. The Crown says that is both intrusive and humiliating.

‘His defense describing Henry as a violent drunk racist aggressor compounds the grief of the family.’

Sentencing Digwa to life, Judge William Mousley KC told the defendant: ‘You, Vickrum Digwa, murdered him, by doing so you robbed him of all those he loved, all the things he cared about and liked to do.

‘He would have been expected to live a long and hopefully happy and fulfilling life. You have brought misery and a lifetime of loss upon his family, and great sadness to everyone who knew him.’

The judge addressed claims that Nowak had used a racist word against Digwa.

‘I am sure that Henry said nothing racist,’ he says.

‘You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely at odds with his previous character.’

Lucy, the mother of Henry, said in a statement read to the court: ‘Henry was ambitious, determined and full of life, he was a messy sod and always hungry, but he had his whole life ahead of him, that future has been cruelly taken away.

‘The impact of his loss has been devastating not only for me but for our entire family and for all who knew him, we are learning to support one another through this unimaginable grief, but the pain is constant, our family will never be the same.

‘He will never be forgotten and he will always be loved beyond words. No sentence handed down will bring Henry back.’

She also described the moment her son told her, his face ‘beaming’, that he had been an offered a place to study at the University of Southampton while on holiday in Greece, adding: ‘It was one of the proudest moments of my life and a moment I will treasure forever.’

It came after Olivia, the sister of Henry Nowak, spoke directly to the defendant as she told him: ‘If you had known him, you would never have hurt him.’

She told the court: ‘My brother was my first best friend, an unbreakable bond, we lived our life to the fullest together.”

She added: ‘He lit up every room that he walked into and the world became less valuable the day he left.”

She described him as ‘funny, handsome, precious and kind’, and added: ‘My brother should not be forever 18, he deserved to grow old and start a family of his own, to be an uncle to my children.’