The full inquest into the death of Henry Nowak will look at whether any ‘act or omission by a police officer’ or delay in treatment caused or contributed to his death while he was in police custody
The full inquest into the death of Henry Nowak will examine whether any “act or omission by a police officer” or delay in treatment contributed to or caused his death. Area coroner Jason Pegg stated that Mr Nowak’s medical cause of death was identified in a post-mortem examination as “a stab wound to chest”.
Mr Pegg said: “When Henry Nowak died, he had been arrested – he was in custody of the state. What that means is article two, or the right to life, the investigative duty has been triggered.
“The scope of any inquest where article two is engaged is not simply how someone came by their death, but also in what broader circumstances. I am not satisfied that the investigations that have taken place to date in relation to the death of Henry Nowak have fully discharged the investigative article two obligation.
“Indeed, those other investigations were not and are not necessarily intended to discharge such obligations.”
Violent protests erupted near where the 18-year-old was murdered amid an outcry over his treatment, after his killer Vickrum Digwa claimed he had been the victim of a racial attack, while Mr Nowak was handcuffed by police who ignored his pleas that he could not breathe as he lay dying.
Mr Pegg added: “The issue in this case is likely to be whether any act or omission by a police officer or any delay in the treatment Henry Nowak received caused or contributed to death.
“An inquest will allow such scrutiny, it will be a public hearing on the broad circumstances by which Henry came by his death.
“Having an inquest will allow Henry’s family to effectively participate in those proceedings.”
The full inquest will open with a jury at Winchester Coroner’s Court on September 20 2027.
Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade prosecutors said was a kirpan, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, is expected to report on the case within the next three months.
Discussing the September 2027 inquest date, Mr Pegg said: “I recognise that date is some time away. It might be that the inquest is brought forward and I hope that it is.”
The news comes after we reported how Sir Keir Starmer accused Elon Musk of trying to “whip up division” in the UK over Henry Nowak’s murder and said Britain needs to “assert who we are” as “reasonable, tolerant people”.
He said: “We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division, that is not who we are in Britain.
“In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people.
“When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly as his family have done.”