The family of Henry Nowak have described as "ludicrous" the decision to allow his killer, Vickrum Digwa, to appeal against his life sentence. They have also condemned the early release of Digwa's mother, Kiran Kaur, who hid the murder weapon, calling it an "absolute disgrace".
Appeal against life sentence
Digwa, 23, was found guilty of the murder of the 18-year-old student and sentenced to life in prison with a 21-year minimum term earlier this year. He is appealing against his sentence today, arguing that it is too severe. Digwa stabbed Henry, from Chafford Hundred in Essex, five times with an eight-inch blade in Southampton on December 3.
Police bodycam footage captured his lies as he told officers that the student had started the altercation and racially abused him.
Family's reaction
In an interview with ITV News' UK Editor, Paul Brand, Henry's stepmother, Katie Nowak, said: "It just doesn't feel fair to us at all. It's another process that we've got to go through. It's another fight that we have to have. It was a very clear verdict. It's not right that he's allowed to do this."
Henry's father, Mark Nowak, said it is an "absolute disgrace" that his killer's mother, who hid the murder weapon, will be released early from jail. The court will also consider a referral by the Attorney General, who argues that Digwa's sentence was unduly lenient.
Early release of the killer's mother
Kiran Kaur was sentenced to three years in prison in July for assisting an offender, after she hid the blade Digwa used to kill Henry. Henry's mother, Lucy Ross, told ITV News: "Mother to mother – she is no mother. We all protect our children, but we also protect our children from right and wrong. But she never did the right thing. She hid the knife, which had Henry's blood on it."
Kaur will be freed this December, after serving just one year of her sentence, as part of the government's early release scheme. It is a date that feels "particularly cruel" to the Nowaks, falling around the anniversary of Henry's murder.
Lucy Ross told Paul Brand: "As soon as she gets out, she could arrange a visiting order to go see [Digwa]. She's lucky enough that she could go and see her boy. I have to go to Henry's grave to see Henry."
Henry's father, Mark Nowak, added: "It's an absolute disgrace. Let's be honest. She'll be out in December of this year having received a three-year sentence. How on earth can that be right? She'll be out for Christmas, and I won't have Christmas with Henry."
Call for rethink
Henry's family called on the Government to seriously rethink its decision to allow Kaur's early release, and the scheme as a whole. Katie Nowak said: "I'd say that victims need to have far more weight and thought given to how they feel. Because throughout this whole process, it doesn't feel like anyone's on your side."
Under the Sentencing Act 2026, which came into force on 1 October, most prisoners serving fixed-term sentences of up to two and a half years are automatically released on licence after serving a third of the time, rather than half. Kaur is appealing against her sentence. She would serve the rest of it in the community on licence and could be recalled to prison if she breached her licence conditions. She spent 221 days on remand, which the Ministry of Justice said was taken into account when she was sentenced. Her crime of assisting an offender is not one of the offences excluded from changes to the early release scheme.
