Kiran Kaur, the mother of Henry Nowak's killer, is set to be released from prison early, prompting former home secretary Suella Braverman to demand she remain behind bars to avoid shattering “any remaining confidence in the justice system”.
Braverman urged Justice Secretary Alex Norris to expand the list of offences excluded from Labour’s early release scheme to keep Kaur in prison, suggesting anyone convicted of assisting an offender in a murder investigation should be forced to stay in jail.
Release date and reaction
Kaur is set to be released in December this year after serving roughly a third of her three-year jail sentence. Braverman said Kaur, who hid the knife used by Vickrum Digwa to kill Henry Nowak, will be “out before Christmas”, adding: “This is an insult to Henry and to a family who have shown extraordinary dignity through all of this.”
She urged Norris to take urgent action, saying: “I find this absolutely shocking given not only the high-profile nature of the case but the sheer enormity of her crimes. Ms Kaur took the weapon used to kill a young man and removed it, helping her son to maintain a false account of self-defence and showed no regard for contributing to a young man's murder. Releasing her at the anniversary of Henry’s death, after less than half of an already short sentence, will cause real distress to his family who have already suffered so much and undermines any remaining confidence in a justice system that many people in this country feel is rigged against them.”
Braverman acknowledged the pressures on prison capacity and noted the Government has already exempted rapists and the most serious child sex offenders from the scheme. She asked Norris to consider whether offenders convicted of assisting an offender in a murder investigation, particularly those who conceal or dispose of the murder weapon, should also be excluded, and to strictly apply that to Kaur's case.
Case background and victim impact
Digwa stabbed university student Nowak five times and then lied to police, telling them he had been the victim of a racist attack. The case provoked outrage after officers attending the scene apparently believed Digwa’s story and arrested Nowak, despite the student telling them he had been stabbed. It was only when Nowak collapsed and lost consciousness that officers started to provide first aid. Digwa, 23, will serve a minimum of 21 years following the killing.
Dr Sanjoy Kumar, whose daughter Grace O'Malley-Kumar was killed in the Nottingham atrocity, slammed justice chiefs over the release. He said: “So a person lies to police, hinders a murder investigation. Secretes the murder weapon. As far as I am concerned you are an accessory to murder ... being released early. What kind of message does this give out across the nation ... the wrong one. What kind of a mother are you? Henry has a mother as well … who is totally broken, will you ever in your life be able to look Mrs Nowak, another mother in the face?”
Police chief's concerns and deportation prospects
A police chief in Hampshire said releasing Kaur after serving a third of her sentence “is going to be a significant blow for Henry’s family”. Donna Jones, the police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said: “This is quite shocking. She wasn’t even sentenced until July this year, which was just some three months ago, and here we are now talking about her potential release which, as I say, really does raise very serious questions about the robustness of our criminal justice system.”
When it was put to Jones that, unlike some early releases, Kaur is unlikely to reoffend and it would be unfair to make an exception, she responded: “I suppose someone could form that argument. The other reason that we have early release in this country is because of prison overcrowding, but let’s not forget that prison overcrowding is in the adult male prison population. It doesn’t affect youth offending, so young males or females, and in fact it’s almost impossible for young females to be sent to prison now, anyway. But it certainly doesn’t affect the adult female prison population. So Kiran Kaur is not taking up a bed in a prison in the United Kingdom right now that could otherwise be going to someone who is posing a much bigger threat to the country.”
It comes after the Home Office signalled Indian national Kaur could be in line for deportation from the UK. Jones backed Kaur’s potential deportation, saying: “Yes, I think if we’re fair here and we have a fair approach towards deportation of foreign national offenders involved in serious crimes then absolutely, why should she be any different to anyone else? And yes, I would support her deportation and that of anyone else connected to this that is also a foreign national offender.” The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.
