Starmer urges calm as far right seeks to exploit Henry Nowak murder

Key Takeaways

• Politicians and community leaders have called for calm amid fears that the populist right is using the murder of Henry Nowak by a Sikh man to whip up racist resentment against minority ethnic Britons.
• After Nigel Farage called for the public to respond with “pure, cold rage”, Keir Starmer condemned the Reform UK leader, saying Nowak’s family had explicitly asked that the case not be used to target particular communities.
• Starmer said in a TV interview at Downing Street: “Nigel Farage is completely wrong to use this to try and create division.
• He would be wrong in any circumstances, but when Henry’s family are saying, ‘Please don’t do that, it’s our son’, then really, as politicians, as human beings, we should start where they start.” View image in fullscreen Vickrum Digwa was jailed by a UK court on June 1 for life for killing 18-year-old student Henry Nowak.
• Photograph: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary/AFP/Getty Images Nowak, an 18-year-old university student, was fatally stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, who used a Sikh dagger, in Southampton in December 2025.