Newly unearthed footage shows Henry Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa, wielding what appears to be an airgun three years before he murdered the student.
The video, shot by Digwa’s neighbour in 2022, appears to show him brandishing the firearm while another person fires bullets at a wooden board in the back garden of his property in Southampton.
The neighbour told The Sun she shot the clip after she heard “loud gunshots” early on 18 October 2022.
“We could hear gunshots and they were really loud,” she said. “When we went to look, we saw them shooting guns at a wooden board.” She said she reported it to the police but was told nothing could be done.
In the UK, airguns under certain power and weight limits do not require a firearms licence and are legal to use on private property.
Hampshire Police told The Sun they were unable to find a report for the incident but confirmed an air pistol was found during a search of Digwa’s property after Nowak’s murder.
The incident took place three years before Digwa, now 23, stabbed 18-year-old Nowak to death in December.
Harrowing footage shows police handcuffing Nowak as they ignored his pleas he had been stabbed.
Digwa falsely told police he had been the victim of a racist attack at the hands of Nowak, who died in police custody.
He was later handed a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Nowak with a 21cm ceremonial knife, which he claims was carried as part of his Sikh faith.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating Hampshire Police’s response in Nowak’s case.
His family have since issued pleas for his death not to be “used to create further division, hatred or tension”, but the police’s treatment of the student has sparked a political row.
At least 20 people have been charged following protests over the police’s response, which left eleven police officers injured after bins and chairs were thrown at them.
Sir Keir Starmer urged politicians to heed the teenager’s relatives’ calls not to use the case “to cause disturbances” while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been criticised for saying people should respond with “pure, cold rage”.
On Friday US vice president JD Vance said there should be “righteous anger” in response to the murder of Nowak, which he partly blamed on “the mass invasion of migrants”. The killer was born and raised in Britain.
His comments triggered a response from Downing Street, which criticised “people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets”.
