With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement about the murder of Henry Nowak.
Last December, Henry – aged just 18 – was a first-year university student with his life ahead of him. He was kind, hard-working, loved by his family and friends. His murder – at the hands of Vickrum Digwa – was a horrifying act.
Digwa murdered Henry and then lied about him, as he lay dying, falsely accusing him of racism. It was an evil act and I know the thoughts of the whole House will now be with Henry’s family and his friends just as mine are.
What they have been through is heart-breaking and for most of us, unimaginable. I know nothing can take their pain and loss away, but yesterday, we saw some measure of justice. Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment. He will serve a minimum term of 21 years.
His mother, Kiran Kaur, has been convicted of “assisting an offender”. She is due to be sentenced on 17 July and today, the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised further charges against other members of the attackers’ family with further sentencing and possible charges pending. We must be cautious still in what we say about this case so that we do not place any proceedings at risk.
However,I can and must pay tribute today to the dignified and powerful words of the Nowak family, in the statement they gave after yesterday’s sentencing. They deserve answers. They deserve answers, in particular, about what happened on that awful night and the actions of the police officers who arrived on the scene.
I expect many in this House and many more across this country have now seen the police officer’s bodycam footage, released last night. It is, without question, a disturbing and tragic thing to see.
People are rightly asking questions about how the situation was handled and they are shocked, and disquieted, to hear Henry’s words “I can’t breathe.”
I know that it is difficult to wait any longer for answers but there is a proper process to assess whether there have been incidents of police misconduct led by the Independent Office for Police Conduct – the IOPC. They will determine what could and should have been done differently. They will determine what action may need to be taken against individual officers.
The family yesterday called on me and I quote “To ensure the IOPC has the resources, authority and independence it needs to conduct a full, fearless and transparent investigation.” I can confirm to you today that we will do so. The IOPC will be equipped and encouraged to act, to find the truth and to ensure, if necessary, that there are consequences.
There have been accusations, I know, of two-tier policing That one community has been prioritised over another. It will be for the IOPC to determine the facts with regards to this specific case and I cannot and will not comment on them, but let me say this on the question of preferential treatment more widely. The police in this country have a sacred duty To police without fear or favour.
Everyone in this country is equal before the law. It is the promise upon which our whole justice system rests and the equality of every citizen is the foundation on which the openness, tolerance and generosity of this country rests.
Let me also be clear about one other thing – a dangerous undercurrent that I have seen in the reaction to this awful crime. Threats against police officers are utterly unacceptable. There can be no justification for intimidation, abuse or attempts to take the law into one’s own hands.
A police officer, unrelated to this case, has been misidentified online and subjected to death threats. He has been forced to relocate, to protect himself and his family. Misinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation even worse. We must all, together, condemn it and we must allow the facts to be established through the appropriate investigations and the courts. We must do so calmly and responsibly.
The Nowak family, and Henry’s memory, deserve answers. They have also called on us all to take action action to address the daily tragedy of knife crime in this country. This government is committed to halving knife crime in this decade.
Since the start of this Parliament, we have made progress knife crime has fallen by 10%, Knife homicides are down 27%, at their lowest level in a decade. Clearly, we must do more, while there are still tragedies like this one. For that reason, we have recently published our Halving Knife Crime Plan. It sets out how we will go further to drive sustained reductions in violence. It brings together action across government and across society to stop people from turning to knife crime and to ensure perpetrators are caught and brought to justice.
Amongst a range of measures, this will see Schools and families supported to address the root causes of knife crime through the establishment of 50 Young Futures Hubs; police using new crime mapping tools to target enforcement more precisely; and making better use of Stop and Search and cruel and exploitative drug gangs stopped from criminally exploiting children, preventing the knife violence driven by the county lines trade.
In relation to knife controls, there have been calls to limit the right of Sikh’s to carry their ceremonial knife, the kirpan – one of the 5 holy items in their faith. The Offensive Weapons Act of 2019, passed under the previous government, clarified and strengthened existing legal protections in relation to long kirpans. This included extending defences so that kirpans can be lawfully possessed for religious reasons and used in religious and ceremonial contexts.
Let me be clear carrying a knife for the purpose of religious observance is one thing. Using it, as so tragically occurred in this case, is quite another it is a vile act. A crime of the utmost severity and it will be met with the severest punishment.
Yesterday, the Nowak family ended their statement with a powerful call to us all. I quote “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.” They quoted the words of the prosecuting lawyer and I quote again “This is not a case about Sikhism. This is not a case about racism. This is a case about murder.”
I echo those words. We cannot allow this murder to turn communities against one another. We must condemn those who seek personal political profit from tragedy.
Instead, we must show who we really are in this country. This was a murder a vile and violent crime. The punishment must be reserved for those who are responsible for the act. We do not believe in collective punishment in this country.
Instead, we stand together against an act of pure evil. We condemn those who committed this heinous crime, not all those who share their faith or their ethnicity.
Yesterday, a sentence was handed down in court. I know it will never be enough. The loss felt by Henry Nowak’s family and friends will last forever. A wonderful young man will never enjoy the promise of the life that stretched out before him.
The evil acts of his murderer and accomplice will never be undone. But we can choose to use this moment to pursue positive change. We are still limited in what we can say there is a sentence to be handed down and further charges may follow and there is an IOPC investigation ongoing.
I call on everyone here to be responsible in this moment, to allow justice to run its full course. However, while we must be limited in what we say, we must not be limited in how we act.
I will end with the words of the Nowak family, once more. Last night, they wrote that “no other family should experience the heartbreak and horror of losing a child to knife crime.”
Let that be the challenge to us all. Across this House, across government and across society.
It is the very least we can do to honour the memory of Henry Nowak.
I commend this statement to the House.
