Mother of Henry Nowak’s murderer jailed for removing knife from scene

Kiran Kaur, 53, sentenced to three years for assisting Vickrum Digwa after he stabbed student in Southampton

The mother of Vickrum Digwa, whose false claims of racism against Henry Nowak triggered riots in Southampton, has been jailed for removing a knife from the murder scene.

Appearing at Southampton crown court, Kiran Kaur, 53, was jailed for three years for assisting an offender by taking the knife from where her son had murdered the 18-year-old student on 3 December 2025 back to her family home.

Digwa, 23, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years for stabbing Nowak five times. When police arrived at the murder scene in Southampton, Digwa falsely claimed Nowak had racially abused him and knocked his turban off, causing officers to arrest and handcuff the student before they saw his fatal injuries.

Kaur was found guilty by the same jurors who convicted Digwa of murder and of carrying a knife in public, following a trial in May.

Sentencing Kaur, William Mousley KC said: “A responsible parent would have challenged their son over their actions and encouraged them to do the right thing. Instead, you took the knife home and put it with a larger collection of ceremonial and other weapons in your son’s bedroom. That would have helped to conceal what it had been used for.”

The judge said Kaur’s actions before and after taking the dagger away “added to your son’s pretence that he had done nothing wrong and that he was the victim”. The court heard the knife was recovered after examination of CCTV, and determined by police to be the murder weapon about a week after Nowak was killed.

Nicholas Lobbenberg KC had told the court Kaur’s role was crucial in removing the murder weapon at a time the police were coming to the scene. The prosecutor said: “The absence of a weapon at the scene caused by her actions hampered the police attending who were, as your Honour will recall, confronted with a wall of lies.

“She chose not to disclose what she had done. Absence of that weapon led to Henry dying terrified, alone and disbelieved. Her actions contributed to this.”

Mark Watson, defending Kaur, said the mother-of-five was a pillar of her family and community and showed positive good character before the incident, including through volunteer work, as he urged the judge to hand down a suspended sentence.

Kelly Newman, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Digwa lied to police about Henry after carrying out the senseless act of violence, and in the immediate aftermath Kiran Kaur chose to help her son by removing the murder weapon in a deliberate attempt to obstruct the investigation and hide crucial evidence.

“Those who seek to help murderers evade justice should be in no doubt that they too will be held accountable for their actions.”

Kaur, aided by a Punjabi interpreter, dabbed her eyes with tissues during her mitigation.

On the night of the attack, Digwa was wearing a small kirpan – a ceremonial sword or dagger worn by initiated Sikhs – under his clothing around his neck but he was also carrying a larger knife which he claimed to be carrying for religious reasons.

Nowak, from Essex, who was studying finance at the University of Southampton, was stabbed five times by Digwa as he walked home after a night out with his football team.

The revelation that Nowak had been handcuffed and falsely accused of racism led to violence in Southampton, and at least 25 rioters have been charged with violent disorder.

Hampshire police have apologised for their actions, which received global attention after being criticised by the owner of X, Elon Musk. The arrest is under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.