UK Man Stabbed to Death; Police, Sentencing and Migration Policy Face Scrutiny

David Lammy told JD Vance in a phone call on Saturday that the US vice president was wrong to blame the murder of Henry Nowak on mass migration. Lammy said the UK democratic process is working and that Vance’s post on X was not helpful. Lammy stated that Vickrum Digwa, a Brit, has been convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.

Digwa stabbed Nowak with a ceremonial knife that had a 21 cm blade, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion. Lammy said an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct is examining Hampshire Police’s response, and the police inspectorate is also reviewing the force.

Attorney General Lord Hermer is considering whether to refer the sentencing to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient scheme.

Lammy told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that he told Vance he was wrong. He said the two had a robust and respectful conversation and remain colleagues and friends. Lammy said he is angry, upset and deeply troubled by Nowak’s death.

He added that the right response is to examine the actions that follow from the case rather than to assign blame to mass migration. Lammy said murder rates are coming down in the United Kingdom. He said the Nowak family has called for calm and does not want division.

Lammy said he does not believe UK police are institutionally racist today. He said the country has moved on from the period of institutional racism that existed in the Stephen Lawrence era. Lammy noted that arrest, prosecution and conviction data show examples of disproportionality affecting Black communities, Muslim communities, Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities.

He said some of these patterns relate to socio-economic background and other factors. On Saturday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth criticised European countries over migration during a speech marking the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in France.

Hegseth said different European beaches are now being stormed by different dangerous ideologies and asked when European capitals would address what he called an invasion.