The brother of a Sikh man who murdered Henry Nowak told police ‘we’ve been racially attacked by a white person’ before officers wrongly arrested the victim as he lay dying, new 999 audio has revealed today.

Weapons-obsessed Vickrum Digwa, 23, stabbed 18-year-old university student Mr Nowak with an eight-inch ceremonial sword six times.

But as Henry lay dying, Digwa’s brother, Gurpreet, 27, dialled 999 and said: ‘We’ve just been attacked racially by some white person,’ audio of the call shows.

Digwa’s false claims of racism to smear the man he murdered were later revealed to be a ‘wicked lie’.

Gurpreet, himself, ‘may just have been accepting that which [Digwa] told him’, judge William Mousley KC later said, adding he was ‘sure’ Mr Nowak never said or did anything racist to his killer.

It came as footage of police handcuffing Henry and ignoring his pleas for help – after his Sikh killer falsely branded him a racist – sparked outrage in Britain.

After Vickrum Digwa falsely claimed Henry had torn off his turban, Hampshire Police officers pulled Mr Nowak along the ground as he begged for help, telling them he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Despite struggling to speak and being in agony, Henry was then ordered to place his hands in the cuffs.

Nigel Farage complained of ‘two-tier’ justice in the UK and said the British public should respond with ‘pure cold rage’ because Mr Nowak was ‘actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder’.

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Murderer Vickrum Digwa is seen lying to police as he tells them the teenager ripped off his turban in a racist attack. It was revealed to be a ‘wicked lie’

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In a 30-second clip, Digwa can be seen performing a ‘Gatka’ with his older brother Gurpreet, right. It was Gurpreet who called 999 and told police: We’ve just been attacked racially by some white person’

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Henry was a finance student at the University of Southampton and was described as ‘kind and talented’ by his family

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Police bodycam footage shows innocent victim Henry Nowak, 18, being forced into handcuffs by officers after he was stabbed repeatedly by a knife-obsessed Digwa. He begged not to be cuffed and said he couldn’t breathe

Kemi Badenoch has also intervened, saying ‘all lives matter’ but added: ‘Nigel Farage is taking sides. I’m not taking sides. I’m saying enough of this. We need to stop this racialising of our society’.

Gurpreet Digwa told police in his 999 call in the aftermath of the murder that the teen student was the aggressor.

Meanwhile, as he was on the phone, Digwa handed his 53-year-old mother, Kiran Kaur, the knife and sheath who attempted to hide the murder weapon.

Ms Kaur has been found guilty of assisting an offender and will be sentenced on July 17.

Digwa’s relatives have since apologised to Mr Nowak’s family and for bringing the Sikh community into ‘disrepute’.

Harrowing police bodycam footage showed Digwa’s father Moga Singh holding Mr Nowak upright while he is slumped against a house.

He tells officers that ‘he keeps dropping side to side so I’m trying to keep him sat up, he’s got a mouthful of blood’. Judge William Mousley KC said he ‘at least tried to do something to help Henry’.

The family said Mr Nowak had jumped over the fence and slipped on the floor, an action the student had taken in a desperate attempt to escape his killer.

The teen struggles to even say his name, but the officers instead ask if anybody else has been injured.

The killer then uses his ‘trump card’ to accuse Mr Nowak of racism and lies to police that his turban was torn off and his hair was grabbed, before he points to his eye and says it is swollen.

The court was previously told that the murderer had the turban on after stabbing his victim and must have taken it off himself before police arrived.

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The Digwa family captured on police bodycam

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Digwa handed his 53-year-old mother, Kiran Kaur (pictured), the knife and sheath who attempted to hide the murder weapon

Meanwhile, the teen lies stricken on the floor, drowning in his own blood. But when he tells officers he has been stabbed, one is heard replying: ‘I don’t think you have, mate.’

The footage also shows Digwa – who was sentenced to 21 years in prison – telling police that his victim had not been stabbed. A female officer replies: ‘I know, but we have to check don’t we.’

In a statement issued through Sikh PA, the family said: ‘The loss of a young life is a grief that no family should ever have to carry. We are deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the Nowak family has had to endure.

‘We love Vickrum. We will continue to love him. That love does not stand in opposition to the sorrow we feel for the Nowak family. Both are real, and both will remain with us for the rest of our lives.

‘We would give anything to turn back time so the path of both Henry and Vickrum never crossed that night. We cannot change what has happened, we just hope that no further pain is caused in its name.

‘We apologise to the Sikh community for our son’s actions which have unfairly brought the community into disrepute.

‘We ask that this tragedy is not used by anyone to inflame division or hostility towards any community.

‘We now ask for privacy as we come to terms with what lies ahead.’

The innocent victim begged officers to call an ambulance following the attack in Southampton city centre last December.

But it was the injured student who was arrested as he lay dying on the ground.

The student died from drowning in his own blood shortly after his wrongful arrest, Southampton Crown Court heard.

In a passionate address to the nation this morning, Nigel Farage said people should respond with ‘pure cold rage’ to the treatment of Mr Nowak.

Mr Farage said Mr Nowak was ‘actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder’.

The Reform UK leader said the last thing Mr Nowak heard on this Earth was being read his rights by officers as he lay dying on a pavement in handcuffs.

‘What does he say? I can’t breathe,’ Mr Farage said.

‘Familiar words. Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwest America a few years ago.

‘Remember the reaction to that and the way the police behaved? Within a few days Keir Starmer was taking the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded all over the country. Churchill’s statue was defaced, the cenotaph was vandalised.

‘And yet, what has the public reaction been from our leaders and politicians, and indeed, to be frank, much of the media to this?

‘Silence, absolute silence. Proof, if ever there was any, that we are living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.’

Mr Farage vowed to write to the Attorney General to ask for Digwa’s sentence to be reviewed for being unduly lenient.

‘Henry’s family have responded to this in just the most extraordinarily dignified way, but I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage,’ he said.

‘This is wrong. All the values and standards of living in a free country where everybody is judged equally before the law have been trashed and thrown away.’

The biggest fear police officers now face is ‘the fear of being reported for acting in a way that was racially biased’, he said.

Mr Farage added that there needed to be an end to ‘anti-white prejudice’ and a recognition that ‘white lives matter’.

Mr Farage said: ‘The most important thing that needs to change, that has to change, if our society is not to be ripped apart, where communities start to distrust each other and deeply distrust the police and all the other institutions of this country, is we need a change in culture.

‘Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives.

‘An end to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law.

‘This is serious. This is urgent. I fear for where our society will be in a few short years if we don’t grip this and do it very, very quickly.’

Mr Farage reposted the video on social media last night, describing it as ‘the most shocking footage of discrimination that you will ever see’.

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An image issued by the Crown Prosecution Service shows the eight-inch ceremonial dagger used by Digwa

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An image released by the CPS of killer Digwa wearing a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife

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The knife used by Digwa is pictured after he murdered his 18-year-old victim

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Last night Robert Jenrick and Nigel Farage reposted the video on social media

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Digwa, 23, was found guilty of murdering student Henry, 18, with an eight-inch ceremonial blade

‘A white boy being handcuffed by police officers more concerned by an accusation of racism than an act of murder. This must be a turning point. White lives matter too,’ he said.

Robert Jenrick also reposted the footage, which he described as ‘harrowing’, saying: ‘He was the victim, but treated like a criminal.’

After the killer’s sentencing, Mr Nowak’s family criticised police for letting him die without ‘dignity’.

Mark Nowak, the teen’s father, said ‘justice alone is not enough’, adding that the way his son was treated, compared to Digwa, was ‘unbearable’.

‘Let me be absolutely clear – we hold Vickrum Digwa solely and 100 per cent responsible for the brutal murder of our son,’ the father said.

‘But Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody. The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading.

‘His murderer, however, was afforded decency. He was believed. He was not handcuffed when arrested. He was not handcuffed when transported to the police station. As far as we understand, he was never handcuffed at all.

‘And, as Vickrum Digwa himself told the court, while under arrest for Henry’s murder, police even took him to the kitchen so he could choose his food. The contrast is unbearable.’

As family members wept outside court, Mr Nowak addressed his son, saying: ‘I want Henry to know wherever he is we are so proud of him and we love him beyond words.’

The father called for a ‘full, fearless and transparent’ investigation into the police handling of his son’s murder.

MPs reacted with fury following Digwa’s conviction for murder last week, questioning how the killer was so easily able to dupe officers into arresting his dying victim – a blunder described as a ‘shocking example of two-tier policing’.

He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years, after a jury found him guilty of ‘aggressively pursuing’ Mr Nowak and stabbing him six times – including a chest wound 8cm deep.

Passing sentence, Judge William Mousley KC told the defendant that being able to wear a knife in public was a ‘privilege’ that came with a ‘huge responsibility’, adding it was ‘fundamental principle’ of Sikhism that the knife was ‘never to be carried for an offensive purpose’.

Continuing his remarks to the defendant, he said of Mr Nowak: ‘I am sure that Henry said nothing racist.

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

‘You have brought shame upon your family and your religion.

‘Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country which have made many Sikhs worried about their safety.’

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Mark Nowak, Henry’s father, delivers a family statement outside Southampton Crown Court yesterday

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Henry pictured with his father Mark, who yesterday blasted police for how his son was treated in his final moments

Prosecutor Mr Lobbenberg earlier told the sentencing hearing: ‘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 defence describing Henry as a violent drunk racist aggressor compounds the grief of the family.’

The court heard that the killer slept in a bedroom with an ‘arsenal of weapons’ that he and his brother shared.

Digwa had a fascination with antique Sikh weaponry and even described the murder weapon in ‘loving terms’ when he was questioned about it.

Hampshire Police was last week forced to apologise to Mr Nowak’s family for arresting the fatally injured teenager.

Deputy Chief Constable Robert France told the Daily Mail: ‘I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested.’

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is looking into how the officers acted.

The case has caused international outrage, with tech billionaire Elon Musk offering to fund a private prosecution against the police. It also raises questions about whether anti-racism training may be having a catastrophic impact on officers’ judgment.

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Following the killer’s sentencing, the Nowak family released photos of Henry as a child

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Henry’s father Mark said: ‘Henry should not have died on the streets of Southampton in police custody. The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading’

The trial heard Mr Nowak was in his first term at the University of Southampton when he went for a night out in the city on December 3. The teenager headed home at around 11pm.

Jurors were told he was speaking to friends on Snapchat when he came across Digwa, who was ‘carrying an extremely large knife in a sheath openly displayed over his clothing’.

A video of the two men talking was found on Mr Nowak’s phone, which was discovered in his killer’s pocket.

In the clip, the teenager can be heard saying: ‘You’re a bad man, say you’re a bad man, go on.’

Digwa replied: ‘I am a bad man.’ The footage then cut off.

After the fatal blows were dealt, Digwa ‘aggressively pursued’ and filmed his victim as he tried to escape. His brother, Gurpreet, then arrived and called 999, claiming his sibling had been ‘attacked racially’.

Officers arrived soon after, at which point Digwa used his ‘trump card’ – accusing Mr Nowak of racism.

This was a ‘wicked lie about a dying man’, Mr Lobbenberg told the jury.

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Digwa’s obsession with weapons was obvious for several years before the fatal attack, with a video obtained by the Daily Mail showing the killer, left, putting on a demonstration with ceremonial knives at a Sikh event

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Sources in the local Sikh community said Digwa and his brother were briefly Gatka teachers, but they had abruptly cut ties with him over concerns they had about his behaviour

Last week, the Daily Mail revealed that Digwa’s obsession with weapons was obvious for several years before the fatal attack, with a video from 2023 showing him putting on a demonstration with ceremonial knives at a Sikh event.

In the 30-second clip, Digwa can be seen performing a ‘Gatka’ with his older brother Gurpreet.

A Gatka is a Sikh weapons demonstration and both Digwa and his brother were described as ‘teachers’ of Gatka.

Sources in the local Sikh community said Digwa and his brother were briefly Gatka teachers, but they had abruptly cut ties with him over concerns they had about his behaviour.

The video, filmed in May 2023, shows them sparring with knives and small shields in front of a crowd of onlookers at an event in London.

Digwa can be seen picking up a knife and a shield from an array of weapons on the floor and using circular motions to jab the knife into his brother’s shield.

The two can be seen dressed in traditional Sikh clothing and turbans, jumping from side to side as they continue to hit each other’s shields.

The footage will raise questions about whether enough was done to stop Digwa before his obsession with knives turned deadly.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Donna Jones said she finds it ‘extremely disturbing’ Digwa was legally allowed to carry the eight-inch knife under religious exemption because he is a Sikh.

She said she had written to the Prime Minister about this aspect of this ‘shocking case’ that has ‘rocked the country’.

Speaking about the evidence that officers did not believe Mr Nowak had been stabbed, the commissioner said: ‘This has been a catastrophic error. We need the IOPC to carry out their full independent investigation into the police handling of this call, how it came from the control room to the officers that were deployed, and what the officers did when they arrived on site.’

She said the ‘misleading’ call Digwa’s brother made to police claiming they had been ‘attacked racially by some white person’ did ‘lead to the complexity of those officers when they arrived on site’.

‘Now as I say this is subject to an IOPC investigation and it is right and proper that that is carried out fully and I will be, as I said, reviewing and ensuring that any recommendations are implemented forthwith,’ she added.

Ms Kaur was found guilty of assisting an offender and will be sentenced on July 17.

SOURCE: DAILYMAIL