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The U.K. attorney general’s office said it may reconsider a killer’s 21-year jail sentence after receiving “multiple requests” to review it under Britain’s unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme.
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On Monday, Vickrum Digwa, 23, was sentenced in Southampton Crown Court to a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years for stabbing Henry Nowak, 18, five times with a religious blade.
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“We have received multiple requests for Vickrum Digwa’s sentence to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme,” a spokesperson for the office said in a media statement.
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“The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to carefully consider the case and make a decision.”
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The incident occurred in the south coast city of Southampton, England, on Dec. 3, 2025.
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Digwa, who is Sikh, told police that Nowak had racially abused him, knocked his turban off and grabbed him by the hair.
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Body-worn police camera footage, which Nowak’s family agreed to make public, shows Nowak collapsed on his side, saying repeatedly he had been stabbed and could not breathe. “Don’t think you have, mate,” an officer says. Nowak is then made to sit up and is handcuffed behind his back.
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While checking his body for stab wounds, the officer reads him his rights, but Nowak is unresponsive. The footage lasts three minutes. Nowak had been stabbed five times, including two to the back of his legs and a fatal wound to his chest.
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During Digwa’s trial, prosecution called the racism allegation a “wicked lie” and said he further deceived officers at the scene by telling them he had not stabbed Nowak.
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Nowak’s death has triggered a strong reaction in Britain. Conservative party leader Nigel Farage criticized the sentence on Tuesday, asserting there’a “two-tier Britain where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.”
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Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, pushed back on Farage’s view on Good Morning Britain, saying “that’s not how we solve this.”
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“We can’t solve it by whipping people up. We can’t solve it by making them angry,” she said, according to ITV.
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Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer said he “felt sick” watching “harrowing” body cam footage of Nowak, who he called a “kind, thoughtful and much loved young man” whose loss was “devastating” for those who knew him.
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Nowak’s family has called his encounter with police “inhumane and degrading.”
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“Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times. 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,” his father, Mark, said. He has called on the government to treat knife crime as a “national emergency.”
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Hampshire police apologized to Nowak’s family for arresting the fatally injured teen and had referred the case to England’s police watchdog for investigation. However, the watchdog said it found no evidence of misconduct by the responding officers, according to the Telegraph.
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“We acknowledge that this case has raised questions about the actions of the attending officers and we are aware that a few minutes of police body-worn footage has been issued by the force following the conclusion of criminal proceedings,” Derrick Campbell, the director of the Independent Office for Police Conduct said.
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“As part of our ongoing investigation we are reviewing a large amount of police body-worn footage, which we need to consider in context with other evidence we have obtained, including reviewing material presented during the murder trial, as we establish the full circumstances.”
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Nowak’s family understands that some of the responding officers have resigned while others remained on duty, the Telegraph noted.
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In his verdict, Judge William Mousley KC gave no credence to Digwa’s claims of racism.
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“You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely at odds with his previous character,” the judge said, adding that Digwa had brought shame to his family, community and religion.
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“Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country, which have made many Sikhs worried about their safety,” the judge said.
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While U.K. law protects practicing Sikhs carrying a small curved blade, known as a kirpan on their person as a religious article, Digwa was carrying a larger second blade that he wore in a sheath, the BBC reported. Digwa’s mother Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty of assisting an offender for taking the knife to hide it after his attack.
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The Sikh Federation organizations said legal protections for the kirpan are limited to ceremonial use.
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On behalf of Sikh communities, it said: “We want to make absolutely clear the law only provides fully practising Sikhs with a defence under the law to wear a kirpan for religious reasons. If a kirpan or a bladed item is used aggressively in an act of violence the defence under the law for a kirpan does not apply and it is deemed an offensive weapon.
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“We understand in this case the weapon that may have been used was not the normal kirpan worn by fully practising Sikhs. This nuance is critically important and may not have been explained or understood by those asked to give evidence in this case.”
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At Digwa’s sentencing, the guidelines that Mousley relied on stipulate a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison if a knife was taken to a scene to commit a crime but the judge determined that did not apply to the case.
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“It is possible that (Digwa) had a good legal reason for having the dagger” but that it “must have come to an end after you removed it from its sheath,” he said, while noting Digwa “abused the privilege extended to Sikhs to have a knife in a public place for religious reason.”
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Mousley gave Digwa 23 years, but reduced it to 21 years due to mitigating factors, which included his young age and good record.
