Police van recording captures confession in Southampton student murder case

A police van recording made within 36 hours of Henry Nowak’s killing captured Vickrum Digwa admitting he stabbed the University of Southampton student, placing his own words at the centre of the prosecution case. The Punjabi exchange with his brother Gurpreet was recorded on 5 December 2025 while the pair were being driven between a police station and a court for a custody extension hearing.

Digwa said he had stabbed Henry in the shoulder, face and chest, and later told his brother, “I am a fool,” when asked why he used the kirpan. The transcript, translated into English for trial, also recorded the brothers praying to God to save them and their parents after all four family members were arrested. Gurpreet told Vickrum he should have “just pushed” or hit Henry instead.

Henry, 18, was walking home from a night out with friends in Southampton, Hampshire, when he was stabbed five times on 3 December 2025. He died at the scene in the early hours of 4 December from significant internal bleeding caused by a chest wound. Judge William Mousley KC said Henry was the first in his family to go to university. His family described him as kind, hard-working, ambitious and devoted to his relatives. His family said the loss had left them with “a life sentence” of grief.

Digwa filmed Henry as he lay on the floor instead of calling an ambulance or police straight away. Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, removed the knife from the scene and was convicted of assisting an offender. Digwa was sentenced on 1 June 2026 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years for murder and possession of a bladed article in public. On 15 June 2026, Solicitor General Ellie Reeves KC referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.