Three more men have been charged and a 16-year-old girl arrested after violent protests erupted in Southampton over the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, bringing the total number of people charged to 14.
Darren Medhurst, 36, Jordan Hambleton, 19, and Callum Darch, 27, were all charged with violent disorder and remanded into custody, due to appear at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Monday. Four other men, aged 18 to 45, were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and remain in police custody. The teenage girl, also from Southampton, was released on conditional bail pending further inquiries.
“Three more men charged and a 16-year-old girl arrested after violent Southampton protests over Henry Nowak murder, total charged reaches 14.”
The unrest began on Tuesday after police released bodycam footage showing Nowak being handcuffed as he lay dying, after he had been stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, who was jailed for life on Monday. Eleven police officers and a police dog were injured as missiles including wheelie bins and chairs were thrown. By Thursday, Daniel Frost, 44, had pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing a dog lead with a metal carabiner as an offensive weapon. Others have since admitted similar charges.
But by Saturday, the protests had turned peaceful. Over 150 people gathered outside Portswood Police Station, less than 100 yards from where Nowak was murdered in December. They took the knee, held a three-minute silence—the length of time it apparently took for police to start first aid—and chanted “I can’t breathe”, the words Nowak uttered as he was arrested. One protester said: “We’re going to see just how long three minutes feels.” Another, Craig, a dad-of-two, said: “I just look at Henry’s face and if that was my son I would be going out of my head.”
Nowak, a first-year accountancy and finance student at the University of Southampton from Chafford Hundred in Essex, was fatally stabbed in December by Digwa, who falsely claimed he had been racially abused and acted in self-defence. His family warned against “knee-jerk reactions” but called for a “common sense approach to law and order”. His father, Mark Nowak, said: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to make our streets safer for everyone.”
Among the protesters, Simon Dorrington, who travelled from Eastleigh, said the case had shifted his view of the police. “I hate them,” he said. “A couple of officers walked by and I just called them racist.” He laid flowers at the spot where Nowak died. Neo-Nazi group White Vanguard also laid flowers outside the police station earlier in the week.