Henry Nowak's killer confessed to brother in police van, transcript reveals

Less than two days after stabbing 18-year-old Henry Nowak to death, Vickrum Digwa admitted the crime to his brother in the back of a police van — a confession captured in transcripts released today. The 23-year-old, who had initially lied to officers claiming he was ‘racially attacked’, motioned to his chest as he described his attack on the University of Southampton finance student. ‘One here (pointing towards the shoulder), towards the face and one on the chest. He was 18 years of age,’ Digwa said, according to the translated Punjabi conversation. His brother Gurpreet Digwa, 27, urged him to claim self-defence: ‘You defended yourself or acted in self-defence. You should have hit him or beaten him up. Why did you use Kirpan?’ Gurpreet then recited an almost-three-minute Ardaas — a traditional Sikh prayer — ending with the line: ‘We have not done anything wrong, God, please have mercy on us and protect us.’ The revelations come after the pair were overheard discussing how they would describe the murder weapon throughout the legal process. Digwa, a Nihang Sikh ‘skilled’ with weapons from a young age, used a kirpan to stab Henry five times as he tried to escape by jumping over a fence in Southampton. The fatal wound was an 8cm deep chest injury. At the scene, Digwa told ‘wicked lies’ of a racist attack, leading police to handcuff the dying teenager. Henry died around 57 minutes after being handcuffed. Digwa, his brother Gurpreet, and their father Moga Singh, 52, have been charged with a string of weapons possession offences. All three have denied the charges and are set to go on trial in September 2027. Meanwhile, Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, who took the blade from her son at the scene and hid it with an ‘arsenal of weapons’ at the family home, was found guilty of assisting an offender. She will be sentenced tomorrow.