Chris Philp calls for 'urgent' investigation over 'shameful' police response to Henry Nowak murder

Chris Philp has launched a scathing attack on the police officers who responded to Henry Nowak's murder, calling for an "urgent" investigation into their conduct.

Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Home Secretary declared the way the Hampshire Police officers treated a dying 18-year-old student is "shameful".

Officers handcuffed Mr Nowak after he was stabbed five times by 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, who lied to police about being "racially abused" by the 18-year-old.

Issuing a public apology, Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France of Hampshire Constabulary said: "I’m sorry that Henry’s life couldn’t be saved that night, and I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness.

"When his killer made that call to the police, and he called the police, not the ambulance service, he lied on that call. He lied when police attended the scene. He continued to lie as Henry’s condition deteriorated."

Reacting to the apology, Mr Philp told GB News their decision to handcuff Mr Nowak despite him telling officers he had been stabbed is "particularly shocking".

Mr Philp said: "First of all, a young man, just at the beginning of his life, has been savagely murdered by a complete stranger who will hopefully now be going to prison for a very, very long time indeed.

"But I think what is particularly shocking about this is that when the police came to the scene, instead of trying to save a young man who was dying on the ground in front of them, instead they believed his attacker and treated him as the perpetrator of an alleged racist crime, which was completely made up."

He made clear: "It was a complete lie, a complete fabrication, and instead of trying to save him, instead they put him in handcuffs as he laid on the floor and bled to death. I think that is shameful."

Mr Philp called for an "urgent" investigation into the officers and for the bodycam footage of the incident to be released.

He said: "This needs to be investigated urgently by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, but that body-worn camera footage, which will show exactly what happened, urgently needs to be released publicly.

"The force need to apologise fulsomely for this, and the police more widely need to end their obsession with race-based policing and automatically believing allegations of racism, as they clearly did here, and start behaving more even handedly because this looks like another example of two-tier policing."

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The Tory MP argued that had the roles been reversed that the murder victim had been of an "ethnic minority", there would be "riots and protests".

He told GB News: "If this lad had been from an ethnic minority and the police had handled the matter this way, there would probably be riots and protests right now. But we're not hearing anything.

"And the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, needs to come out and show some leadership on this issue. He was right out after the George Floyd incident six years ago, which happened on a different continent. He was out taking the knee straight away.

"And yet here this has happened in the country where he is supposed to be prime minister, and we have complete silence from Keir Starmer. So it's about time he showed some leadership as well."

Mr Philp declared that the case of Henry Nowak should be a "wake-up call" for the "whole policing and criminal justice system".

He concluded: "Henry Novak told the police repeatedly that he had been stabbed. His last words, tragically, were I can't breathe, that was his last words before he passed away.

"And the fact he was laying there on the ground and telling the police he'd been stabbed, and despite that fact they still handcuffed him because they believed his murderer's lies, I think is appalling and should be a wake-up call for a whole policing and criminal justice system to lay to one side this obsession with racial identity.

"Just treat everybody the same and concentrate on protecting the public and catching criminals."

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