Note: This column first appeared on Cashill’s substack.
On Monday, Hampshire Police finally released the bodycam footage showing the arrest of the dying Henry Nowak, and Great Britain may never be the same. That would be a good thing. In 2020, Britain wallowed in a paroxysm of guilt and rage over the Minneapolis death of George Floyd, but until Monday Brits remained largely passive over a death in police custody many times more shocking than Floyd’s.
The arresting officers deserve their share of the blame, but their performance was not at all surprising. In a bi-polar police state desperately afraid of its own minorities, law enforcement routinely goes full Orwell on white citizens while ignoring real crimes committed by non-whites. The video shows in three minutes how perversely this unspoken policy played out in real life.
According to court documents, on the night of Dec. 3, 2025, the 18-year-old Nowak was walking home “alone and unarmed” from a pub in suburban Southhampton near where he attended university. En route, he encountered Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old British Sikh man whose 8-inch ceremonial dagger (Kirpan) likely caught Nowak’s attention.
Said Judge William Mousley, “There has been a trend towards younger people wearing a kirpan with pride, in a desire to express their cultural identity. They see it as an act of resistance to being denied the ability otherwise to display their identity.” For religious reasons, authorities have given Sikhs a pass on the law banning bladed articles in a public place. Those authorities have also encouraged Sikhs to seek out an “identity” other than British.
Nowak was recording a snapchat video while he walked. He had been drinking, but he was not legally drunk. “You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man, go on,” teased Nowak. “I am a bad man,” said Digwa as he snatched Nowak’s phone.
“It would not be unreasonable to conclude that Henry would have wanted his phone back,” said Mousley, and this “may have led to a physical struggle.” In the course of the struggle, Digwa’s turban – “another fundamental religious requirement” – came off.
Dagwa was not happy. “You drew the dagger from its sheath and, as the jury was sure, you deliberately stabbed Henry in the chest with it,” said Mousley to Dagwa at sentencing. Dagwa stabbed the “defenseless” Nowak at least four more times.
Dagwa then “filmed Henry desperately trying to get away” and “continued to make films of Henry suffering, ignoring much of his desperation at having been stabbed.” Digwa’s brother arrived at the scene and, while Nowak lay dying, they agreed upon an alibi, namely that Nowak provoked a fight by calling Digwa a “Paki.” The judge found this claim “completely at odds” with the evidence and Nowak’s character.
The real horror show began when the police arrived. Understandably, the judge skirted this issue, saying only that Digwa told “wicked lies when police attended on the scene, hampering them in doing their job.” Ever sensitive to minority concerns, the police chose to believe the lies.
Here the BBC picks up the story. With Nowak moments from death, Digwa tried to persuade the police that Nowak knocked off his turban and pulled his hair. The officer asked Digwa if he had been injured, and Digwa showed them “a little bruise,” a claim the judge rejected, but the police took more seriously than Nowak’s fatal wounds.
The officers then turned back to Nowak who was gasping, “I can’t breathe” and “I’ve been stabbed.” One officer dismissed Nowak’s claim. “Don’t think you have, mate,” he said as he dragged Nowak out from behind a car and forced him to sit up to be handcuffed.
While the handcuffed Nowak pleaded “I can’t breathe” three more times, the officers looked for stab wounds. One insisted, “He hasn’t been stabbed.” Nowak was fully unresponsive when an officer told him he was under arrest for assault and read him his rights. Nowak died within minutes.
The belated response of Prime Minister Keir Starmer reads like parody. “This is an awful, shocking case,” said Starmer. “We must end the cycle of tragedy by tackling the horror of knife crime.” This “tragedy” is not cyclical. It’s wildly asymmetrical. Only one side is allowed to carry knives. Only one side sees name calling as a justification for murder. Only one side is allowed to riot. But then again, substitute “gun crime” for “knife crime,” and you’re an American Democrat.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage zeroed in on the real problem. “The last thing [Henry Nowak] heard on this Earth was him being read his rights by the police,” said Farage. “He was actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder.”
Yes, both Floyd and Nowak said “I can’t breathe” while being arrested. In the U.S., Minnesota authorities suppressed the exculpatory bodycam footage to nail the cops. In the U.K., authorities slow-walked the incriminating bodycam footage to protect a police force rendered absurd by their own insane polices. In either case, justice was sacrificed to advance a global woke agenda.
Feeling the heat, Judge Mousley ruled fairly, sentencing Digwa to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years. The tide may be turning. If so, Henry Nowak’s death may help right a corrosive wrong, the same wrong Floyd’s death only made worse.
Note: This column first appeared on Cashill’s substack. Please subscribe.
