I’m sorry that this is so soon after my last post but there has been one story that has dominated our news for the past three days and I need to comment.
This story has been the front page headline in virtually every newspaper and has been the lead story in every television and radio news programme. It has dominated every phone-in and discussion format.
Those of you resident in the UK, will already know that I am referring to the tragic event that culminated in the death of an 18-year-old student in Southampton. There is one aspect of this case that bothers me, however.
To summarise the events of that evening, Henry Nowak was a student at Southampton University and was in his first year studying accountancy and finance. One evening in December 2025, he met friends in a pub and at around 11 o’clock, left to walk home. On his way through the Portswood area, he encountered Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh and his brother, Gurpreet.
Words were exchanged that resulted in a altercation during which Vickrum Digwa stabbed Nowak five times using a pesh-kabz, a martial blade, larger than the kirpan which Sikhs legally carry as prescribed by their Code of Conduct.
After the fight was over, Gurpreet dialled 999 and reported to the police that he and his brother had been involved in a racial attack and asked for medical help.
When the police arrived and this is what has made the story so shocking and newsworthy, they immediately handcuffed and arrested Nowak, who was lying on the ground, dying. Even after he had told them four times that he had been stabbed, they ignored him, siding with the Sikhs and treated it as a racial hate crime.
It is the attitude of the police that has caused all the acrimony, hostility and uproar.
Vickrum Gurpreet, the murderer was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. His brother is facing charges of possessing offensive weapons such as a baton and an axe in a private place,.
The aspect of the case that really bothers me and which no one has commented upon in the media, is why was that 999 call made and once it had been made, why did the murderer and his brother wait for more than10 minutes at the scene until the police arrived? It almost appears that they were showing compassion towards their victim by making the call and ensuring that medical aid was on its way.
I have never before heard of a case in which a murderer acts in that way. They always seem to leave the scene of the crime as fast as possible. Their behaviour seems extraordinary. Vickrum Digwa knew that the stab wounds would be discovered and that he or his brother were the only possible suspects and yet, rather than quickly leaving the scene, they hung around.
Surely, they must have realised that a long prison sentence was inevitable for one or both of them when the police questioned them.
While I’m on the subject of the police, in 2010, the ITV police series, “The Bill”, ended. It had run since the mid 80s.
The opening credits of every one of the 2,400 episodes included shots, from their knees to the ground, of two police officers, a woman and a man walking along a pavement. They were walking their beat.
If you are over 60 years old and watched BBC television from 1955 until 1976, you will recognise these lyrics to the theme of “Dixon of Dock Green”.
I’m an ordinary copper who’s patrolling his beat.
Around Dock Green.
’Hello, Mister Dixon!’ shout the kids in the street,
Around Dock Green.
The programme featured George Dixon, a police constable in his 50s who was honest, likeable and always trustworthy and dependable. He had all the characteristics that every police officer should have.
Those words of the song epitomise what policing is meant to be all about. Dixon was a local policeman who was known and trusted by everyone in Dock Green. Above all, he was visible. He walked his beat.
I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw a police officer who wasn’t sitting in a car. Do the police still “walk the beat”? It must be 40 years since I saw one. I wonder if a teenager knows what is meant by a “beat”.
I have no idea what the average police constable does all day but I suppose that as offences that a “bobby on the beat” might deter, such as shoplifting and street knife crime are virtually unknown nowadays, there is absolutely no need for a visible police presence of any kind.
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