The police force at the centre of the Henry Nowak case considered issuing a statement challenging “disinformation” during the trial of the 18-year-old student’s killer, it has been revealed.
It is understood Hampshire Police was concerned about online commentary and potential public unrest, and had sought the CPS’s view on publishing a message saying it would address questions once legal proceedings concluded, according to The Sunday Times.
But the CPS warned that doing so would potentially jeopardise the “integrity” of the case against Vickrum Digwa.
Warnings about the risk of contempt are typically issued by the Attorney General’s Office.
The revelation is likely to put further pressure on the force, which has faced scrutiny this week over its officers' treatment of Mr Nowak.
Body-worn camera footage shows officers handcuffing and arresting the university student as he lay dying from multiple stab wounds.
As he pleaded with officers, repeatedly telling them, “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe,” an officer dismissed him saying: “I don’t think so mate.”
Henry Nowak was walking home alone after a night out with university friends in Southampton in December last year when he was repeatedly stabbed by Vickram Digwa.
Digwa then falsely told police at the scene that Nowak had racially abused him.
Officers subsequently pulled Nowak across the gravel and forced his hands behind his back as they arrested him.
Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “The CPS highlighted to the police that protecting the integrity of the ongoing trial was essential, and of the risks of referring to any aspect of the evidence before it had been heard by the court and the case had been summed up by the judge to the jury.
“However, it was made clear that whether a statement was released was ultimately a police operational decision.”
A spokeswoman for Hampshire Police told The Sunday Times: “Following the opening of the trial and the media reporting that followed, a significant amount of mis- and disinformation was circulating online.
“This included requests for information to be shared that had not been fully examined as part of the murder trial.
“The intention of the statement was to remind the public that there were ongoing legal proceedings and that the law is clear that nothing could be published which could prejudice the trial.
“The decision not to publish was taken following advice from the CPS.”
It is understood the statement contained information about the process of a court case, reminded people that nothing could be published that could prejudice legal proceedings, and said that police would answer questions once the trial was complete.
The case has sent shockwaves across the nation and sparked violent protests in Southampton.
Eleven people have since been charged after violent clashes at protests following the sentencing.
Mr Nowak’s father Mark has said the family “do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension”, but the police’s treatment of the student has sparked a political row.
The Prime Minister has 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”.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused police leaders of “institutional incompetence” through the training officers are given.
She said: “It is the police chiefs, operationally independent from government, who must take responsibility for letting that happen.
“I believe the issue is the training [officers] are given. Well-meaning, but totally wrong-headed, lacking in common sense and, possibly illegal… The problem is not institutional racism towards blacks or whites but institutional incompetence.”
On Friday US vice president JD Vance said there should be “righteous anger” in response to the murder of Mr Nowak, which he partly blamed on “the mass invasion of migrants”.
His extraordinary 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”.
No 10 has also hit out at US tech billionaire Elon Musk, accusing him of trying to “whip up division” after he said he was willing to fund a private prosecution against Hampshire Police.
