Shabana Mahmood has announced an independent review into the murder of Henry Nowak, a case that has drawn fresh scrutiny after the ITV Big Brother vote chatter is ignored in favour of the harder question: how the response failed him. The review will probe what was known before, during and after his death, and it begins with the police response under the microscope.
Henry Nowak and 1 June
Henry Nowak was 18 years old when he was fatally stabbed in Southampton in December. Vickrum Digwa was jailed for life on 1 June with a minimum term of 21 years after falsely claiming he had been racially abused and had acted in self-defence.
Police bodycam footage showed Nowak being handcuffed as he lay dying, and that footage triggered intense scrutiny of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The sentencing judge ruled that he would not have survived his injuries, however quickly he received treatment, which leaves the review focused on response failures rather than survival chances.
Alex Chalk KC leads phase one
The review will be led by former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC. Mahmood said in the House of Commons on Monday: “We must get to truth of what happened before, during and after that awful night and we must do everything in our power to ensure that no family suffers the same fate,” setting the scope for a probe that reaches beyond one arrest or one agency.
The Home Office said the review will be carried out in two parts. Phase one will cover the police, health services, local authorities, educational institutions and faith organisations, and it will ask whether any concerns were raised about weapon possession and violent behavior, and whether there were missed opportunities to prevent Henry Nowak's murder.
IOPC phase and family support
Phase two will follow after the Independent Office for Police Conduct has concluded its investigation into the actions of police officers who attended the scene. It will consider the actions of the Independent Office for Police Conduct and, if necessary, the police, which means the accountability process is now split between wider safeguarding questions and a narrower review of the response on the night itself.
Mahmood also said the review will examine the treatment of Henry Nowak's family in the justice system and whether they received enough support. His family called the announcement a “significant moment in our fight for justice” and added, “Our experience of the criminal justice system has been deeply disappointing, and we are determined that no other family should have to endure what we have.”
Kemi Badenoch welcomed the decision and said: “There must be proper accountability for those who failed Henry and his family,” while Chalk later told Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday that the review would look at whether reports had been held back because of a “misplaced sense of cultural sensitivity”. The real test now is whether phase one surfaces specific missed opportunities to intervene before the stabbing, because that is where this review can still change the official record.
