Vickrum Digwa told his mother to take the knife he used to stab Henry Nowak to death away from the crime scene. In a video clip taken on Digwa's phone, he can be heard speaking to his mother Kiran Kaur in Punjabi, asking her to take away the weapon. After stabbing Henry, a transcript revealed how Digwa said: 'Take this.'
Mother jailed for assisting offender
Kaur, 53, was jailed last week for three years for assisting an offender after taking the weapon back to the nearby family home on the night of the murder on December 3 2025. Digwa, 23, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years on June 1 for the murder of the 18-year-old finance student, after falsely claiming Mr Nowak had racially abused him.
Judge William Mousley KC told Kaur when Digwa told her to take the murder weapon away, 'by then you knew or believed that he had stabbed and injured Henry'. He also told her: 'A responsible parent would have challenged their son over their actions and encourage them to do the right thing.' Instead, Kaur took the knife home and put it with a 'larger collection of ceremonial and other weapons in your son's bedroom', which would have helped to conceal its use because she wanted him to 'avoid being caught', the judge said.
Judge criticises mother's actions
The judge said her actions at Belmont Road before and after taking the dagger away 'added to your son's pretence that he had done nothing wrong and that he was the victim'. He said her role added to the 'degradation of Henry being arrested when he was dying'.
Following her sentencing, Mr Nowak's family said in a statement they remain 'incredibly disappointed' and said they will 'never give up in our campaign for justice for Henry'. In a statement, they said: 'Our focus is on making sure the ongoing investigations leave no stone unturned as we fight for the full truth about what happened last December, and we continue to urge the Government to deliver the changes our wonderful son deserves.'
Body-worn video sparks anger
In the wake of Digwa's case, anger erupted following the release of police body-worn video showing Mr Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died.
