Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have clashed over claims of 'two-tier policing' following the murder of Southampton student Henry Nowak and the subsequent response from Hampshire Police.
The dispute emerged after the conviction of Vickrum Digwa for the murder of the 18-year-old university student. In the days following the verdict,body-worn camera footage released by Hampshire Policeshowed Nowak repeatedly telling officers he had been stabbed before he was handcuffed and arrested at the scene.
The footage, together with questions surrounding the police response on the night of the attack, has prompted wider political debate about policing, public confidence in the justice system and the ongoing investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
The case attracted renewed attention after Hampshire Police released bodycam footage following the conclusion of the murder trial. In the footage, Nowak can be heard repeatedly telling officers that he had been stabbed. Officers initially believed they were responding to an assault after receiving information that later proved inaccurate.
Vickrum Digwa was convicted of murderat Southampton Crown Court, while his mother, Kiran Kaur, was convicted of assisting an offender after removing the knife used in the attack from the scene.
The Nowak family have since called for accountability and reform while urging politicians not to use Henry's death to create division or hostility between communities.
Farage used the case to renew criticism of what he describes as 'two-tier policing'in Britain. In apost on X, he argued that public trust in the justice system was being damaged by perceptions that people were not being treated equally under the law. He also said a Reform UK government would end what he described as two-tier policing.
It is clear to everyone but@Keir_Starmerthat we are living under two-tier policing in Britain.The anger millions of us feel comes from losing trust in our justice system to treat everyone equally under the law.A Reform government would end two-tier policing.pic.twitter.com/MTiXniTcnz
In a video accompanying the post, Farage argued that police guidance required officers to treat different ethnic groups differently and claimed this had damaged public confidence in policing. He also referred to disorder in Southampton following the case and warned that trust in law enforcement could continue to decline if people believed they were not being treated equally.
Government ministers and police leaders have repeatedly rejected claims that British policing operates on a two-tier basis.
Source: International Business Times UK
