SOUTHAMPTON: Body camera footage of a dying student who was handcuffed by British police after being stabbed by a Sikh man and falsely accused of racially abusing his murderer sparked outrage Tuesday. Eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak is heard repeatedly telling police, &quot;I can&#39;t breathe,&quot; in the footage captured as he lay mortally wounded in December after a night out with his football team members. A judge on Monday jailed his killer, 23-year-old Sikh Vickrum Digwa, for at least 21 years for stabbing Nowak to death with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade. When police arrived at the scene in the south coast city of Southampton, Digwa lied to officers, telling them Nowak had racially insulted him and that he was the victim. The footage, which was played during Digwa&#39;s trial, shows police accepting the aggressor&#39;s accusation, and rather than helping Nowak, initially placed him in handcuffs despite his pleas that he had been stabbed and could not breathe. One officer can be heard asking Nowak: &quot;You&#39;ve been stabbed, whereabouts?&quot; before adding: &quot;Don&#39;t think you have, mate.&quot; Moments later, the young student collapsed and became unconscious. Speaking after Digwa was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court, Nowak&#39;s father, Mark, described the police treatment of his son as &quot;shocking.&quot; He called Nowak&#39;s treatment &quot;inhumane and degrading ... his murderer, however, was afforded decency. He was believed.&quot; The family gave permission for the police to release the bodycam footage. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned on X on Monday&nbsp;the &quot;awful, shocking case,&quot; saying it was right the independent police complaints watchdog was investigating officers&#39; &quot;response to (Nowak&#39;s) senseless murder.&quot; Main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for changes to police diversity policies. Farage said there needed to be an end to &quot;anti-white prejudice&quot; and recognition that &quot;white lives matter.&quot; &lsquo;Two-tier culture&rsquo; He said Nowak&#39;s words echoed the 2020 case of George Floyd, a black killed by police in the United States. &quot;I can&#39;t breathe. Familiar words. Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwest America,&quot; Farage said. At the time, Keir Starmer was taking the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded all over the country. Churchill&#39;s statue was defaced,&quot; Farage said. But after Nowak&#39;s death, there has been &quot;absolute silence, proof ... we&#39;re living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.&quot; Change was needed, Farage said, &quot;if our society is not to be ripped apart&quot; amid distrust between communities, and concern over policing and institutions. Badenoch accused Farage of &quot;deepening divisions&quot; with his comments. But she also took aim at so-called &quot;two-tier policing&quot; in which police allegedly deal with ethnic minorities more leniently. Badenoch, whose party has lost support on the right to Reform UK, called for citizens to be treated equally by police regardless of ethnicity. &quot;No two-tier policing, no believing that racism only happens to ethnic minorities. It happens to everyone,&quot; she told Good Morning Britain television. &quot;And the police need to be trained like that, not with the terrible anti-racism training, which is just reverse racism and reverse discrimination,&quot; she said. American tech tycoon Elon Musk posted on X an offer to fund a private prosecution against the police over their handling of the murder. Digwa was due in court again on Tuesday with his brother, Gurpreet Digwa, 27, and his father, Moga Singh, 52, on weapons offenses. All three face charges of possession of offensive weapons, including a flick knife, an extendable baton, knuckledusters, a machete, swords and kusaris. Digwa&#39;s family apologized to Nowak&#39;s family for the killing.&nbsp; The convicted killer&#39;s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, will be sentenced on July 17 for assisting an offender by taking the knife back to the family home.

Demonstrators gather around Kingsway to march during 'Unite the Kingdom' organized at the call of far-right activist Tommy Robinson in London, United Kingdom on May 16, 2026. (AFP)

Europe

18 year-old Henry Nowak is heard repeatedly telling police "I can't breathe" in the footage captured as he lay mortally wounded in December after a night out with his football team members.

'I can't breathe': Outrage after UK police handcuff dying student

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Labour suffered heavy losses in early UK local election results on Friday, as Nigel Farage&rsquo;s Reform UK made major gains across England and Prime Minister Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure, British media reported. The Independent reported that Labour had lost control of eight councils, including traditional strongholds such as Tameside, Hartlepool and Wigan, as results from Thursday&rsquo;s elections continued to come in.&nbsp; Early tallies showed Reform winning 290 council seats, a gain of 270, while Labour had 229, down 202. The Liberal Democrats had 217 seats, up 29, the Conservatives 159, down 61, and the Greens 47, up 23.&nbsp; PM Starmer acknowledged the scale of Labour&rsquo;s setback, saying the results were &ldquo;very tough&rdquo; and that there was &ldquo;no sugarcoating it.&rdquo; He said Labour had lost dedicated councilors and added that he took responsibility. Reform&rsquo;s strongest early performances came in former Labour areas. In Hartlepool, the party won all 12 contested seats, while Labour lost seven and control of the council. Reform also took Newcastle-under-Lyme from the Conservatives, its first council gain of the 2026 local elections. BBC reported that Reform won 27 seats there, underlining the party&rsquo;s breakthrough in areas where it previously had little local representation.&nbsp; Farage described the results as evidence of &ldquo;historic change in British politics&rdquo; and said Reform was making gains in traditional Labour areas. The party also claimed Labour voters were switching directly to Reform. The results triggered fresh questions about Starmer&rsquo;s leadership. Labour MP Jonathan Brash said the prime minister should step down, while Defence Secretary John Healey rejected that call and said Starmer remained the right person to turn the party&rsquo;s position around. Polling expert Sir John Curtice, who leads the BBC&rsquo;s results analysis, said Reform was winning at least a third of declared seats and performing especially well in areas that backed Brexit. He said Reform appeared to have taken from the Conservatives the coalition that supported Boris Johnson in 2019.&nbsp; The Conservatives also lost ground, although they pointed to some gains as evidence of resilience. The Liberal Democrats and Greens both made gains, adding to signs of a more fragmented electoral landscape. More results are expected throughout Friday from councils in England, along with devolved elections in Scotland and Wales.

United Kingdom

Reform UK made major local election gains as Labour lost key councils, increasing pressure on PM UK Sir Keir Starmer while Conservatives also struggled and smaller parties advanced.

Articles tagged with "Nigel Farage"

'I can't breathe': Outrage after UK police handcuff dying student

Reform UK surges as Labour suffers heavy local election losses