Henry Nowak Murder Case Reveals Idolatry of Progressive Anti-Racism in Britain

Imagine this: An 18-year-old boy, in his first year of college, is walking home from a night out with friends. Suddenly, a man approaches him and, unprovoked, runs him through with a large knife. When police arrive, the attacker claims that the victim — who is writhing on the ground with a three-inch-deep stab wound in one of his lungs, drowning in his own blood — called him racial slurs. Hearing the allegation of “racial abuse,” officers proceed to arrest the injured 18-year-old. The boy, handcuffed and lying on the street, slips from consciousness and dies shortly thereafter.

It sounds dystopian — a scene straight out of a horror-film depiction of a society whose idolatry of progressive anti-racism has turned it totally upside down. But prosecutors allege that this sequence of events is precisely what transpired on December 3, 2025, in the English city of Southampton. Henry Nowak, an undergraduate studying accounting and finance at a local university, was allegedly pursued and stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, who was carrying an eight-inch-long shastar, or knife, as well as a Sikh kirpan, a ceremonial blade. Prosecutors allege that the small kirpan, which Digwa had been wearing around his neck, “satisfies any religious obligation a Sikh may have to carry a blade.”

About the Author

Matthew X. Wilson

Matthew X. Wilson is a former associate editor at National Review.

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Imagine this: An 18-year-old boy, in his first year of college, is walking home from a night out with friends. Suddenly, a man approaches him and, unprovoked, runs him through with a large knife. When police arrive, the attacker claims that the victim — who is writhing on the ground with a three-inch-deep stab wound in one of his lungs, drowning in his own blood — called him racial slurs. Hearing the allegation of “racial abuse,” officers proceed to arrest the injured 18-year-old. The boy, handcuffed and lying on the street, slips from consciousness and dies shortly thereafter.

It sounds dystopian — a scene straight out of a horror-film depiction of a society whose idolatry of progressive anti-racism has turned it totally upside down. But prosecutors allege that this sequence of events is precisely what transpired on December 3, 2025, in the English city of Southampton. Henry Nowak, an undergraduate studying accounting and finance at a local university, was allegedly pursued and stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, who was carrying an eight-inch-long shastar, or knife, as well as a Sikh kirpan, a ceremonial blade. Prosecutors allege that the small kirpan, which Digwa had been wearing around his neck, “satisfies any religious obligation a Sikh may have to carry a blade.”