The solicitor general has referred the sentence of Henry Nowak’s murderer to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient scheme.
Earlier this month, Vickrum Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years for the murder of Nowak, an 18-year-old student, which sparked violent protests in Southampton.
Ellie Reeves said: “This case horrified me, and I know that feeling is shared by the British public. It is right that difficult questions need to be answered about the way the police handled Henry Nowak’s murder, while my role is to review Digwa’s sentence for his crimes.
“After careful consideration, I have taken the decision to refer this case to the Court of Appeal.
“No sentence can ever undo the devastation that Henry’s family have suffered, or fill the void left by his loss. But I hope this referral goes some way towards bringing them the justice they deserve.”
The Court of Appeal will now decide whether the sentence was unduly lenient.
At trial, Southampton Crown Court heard that Digwa, 23, stabbed Nowak to death with a Sikh ceremonial knife on 3 December 2025.
Digwa was filmed by his victim as he told him, “I am a bad man”, moments before the knife attack, which included two stab wounds to the back of Nowak’s legs and a fatal wound to his heart.
During his trial, Digwa claimed that Nowak, whom he described as drunk, had racially abused him before punching him and knocking his turban off.
He said he had stabbed Nowak in the back of his legs in self-defence after the student had threatened him and grabbed him by the hair.
He claimed that he had not realised at the time that he had caused the fatal stab wound to Nowak’s chest.
But the prosecution said Digwa had told a “wicked lie” to police who attended the scene by telling them he had been the victim of a racist attack.
He also lied by telling officers that he had not stabbed Nowak, despite the student’s pleas for help as he told the police he was injured.
This led the officers to arrest Nowak and put him in handcuffs moments before he collapsed and became unconscious. He then died despite their efforts to give him first aid.
The treatment of the 18-year-old triggered a political row, with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer urging politicians to heed the teenager’s relatives’ calls not to use the case “to cause disturbances”.
Sir Keir has also met with the Nowak family and said that he was “profoundly humbled” to have had a private conversation with them in Downing Street.
He urged the nation to choose unity over hatred, adding that “Henry deserves a legacy that goes beyond this awful tragedy”.
