Hampshire police commissioner urges religious-knives review

Police bodycam footage shows arrest of Henry Nowak after he was stabbed – video No 10 urged to review religious knife rules after Henry Nowak murder Hampshire police commissioner writes to Keir Starmer over ‘national tragedy’ of Southampton stabbing last December UK politics live – latest updates The police and crime commissioner for Hampshire is leading calls for a review of religious exemptions on the carrying of knives after the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak by a man carrying a “Sikh dagger” in Southampton . Donna Jones described the stabbing of university student Nowak as a “national tragedy” and said she was writing to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, about the issue. Hampshire police released footage from body-worn cameras showing Nowak being handcuffed despite repeatedly telling police officers that he had been stabbed. At one point an officer tells him: “I don’t think you have, mate.” Vickrum Digwa, who falsely claimed he had been racially abused and attacked by Nowak, is seen lying to police that the teenager knocked his turban off and caused an eye injury. View image in fullscreen Henry Nowak, 18, died last December after he was stabbed by Vickrum Digwa in Southampton. Photograph: Hampshire Police/PA Jones said: “Henry was falsely accused of racially aggravated assault as he lay dying on the ground, while his attacker stood by denying the violent act he had inflicted upon him. “It is devastating the officers did not believe Henry when he said he’d been stabbed and couldn’t breathe. His death is a national tragedy. Central to this incident is the fact that Vickrum Digwa was able to carry a knife in public because there is an exemption for those who observe the Sikh faith to carry ceremonial daggers. “I intend to write to the prime minister to request a national review of the laws concerning the carrying of bladed articles under religious exemptions.” View image in fullscreen Digwa pictured wearing the knife in its sheath. Photograph: CPS/PA The Cabinet Office minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said the footage was harrowing, telling the BBC: “The conduct of the police at the scene is shocking.” But he did not suggest the UK government would examine the exemption allowing Sikhs to carry knives. He said: “There is an exception in terms of carrying bladed articles in public places for particular religious and ceremonial reasons. “And whilst, of course, we’ve been tightening up the law, we’ve banned things like terrible zombie knives, we’ve tightened up the law in terms of online purchasing of knives, it’s not about looking, I think, more broadly at that particular exception. “If you look at what the judge said in this case, the judge actually said that the minute that this perpetrator removed the blade from the sheath, you can forget any sense of there being some sort of exception to the law. “And he also said the fact that this perpetrator was willing to use a bladed article was an abuse of the privilege that Sikhs and indeed other religi