Henry Nowak sentence raised: Court of Appeal sets 25-year minimum term, 24 years 190 days left to serve

The Henry Nowak sentence has been increased by the Court of Appeal, which ruled that a 21-year minimum term for Vickrum Digwa was “unduly lenient”. Digwa was jailed for life in June after being convicted of murdering the 18-year-old student in Southampton on 3 December 2025. His minimum term is now 25 years.

What the Court of Appeal decided on the Henry Nowak sentence

The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, sat with Mr Justice Nicklin and Mr Justice Wall. She quashed the 21-year minimum term and replaced it with 25 years. Digwa spent 175 days on remand, and that time is deducted. He must therefore serve at least 24 years and 190 days before he can be considered for parole, according to reports of the ruling.

Attorney General Ellie Reeves referred the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. Digwa, who appeared by video link from HMP Frankland, separately argued that his term was “manifestly excessive”. The court refused him permission on that point, with Baroness Carr saying it was “unarguable” that the term was too long.

The Lady Chief Justice said the trial judge, William Mousley KC, had been entitled to use a 15-year starting point. He had found that Digwa did not take the knife to the scene intending to commit a crime. But she said his overall assessment “materially understated” two things. One was the repeated use of a large, immediately available dagger with intent to kill an unarmed man. The other was “the deliberate cruelty, additional suffering and obstruction” that followed. “It was not only lenient, but unduly so,” she said.

The kirpan argument

Much of the hearing turned on the religious blades that Sikhs may lawfully carry. The sentencing judge had heard that Digwa wore a small kirpan and also carried a larger dagger, in keeping with the Nihang order of Sikhs. Reports say the dagger was 21cm long.

Jonathan Polnay KC, for the Attorney General, stressed that the case was “not about the lawful possession of a kirpan”. He said it was about what followed. He argued that using a lawfully carried blade for lethal violence was “on at least one level, analogous to an abuse of trust”. Baroness Carr said the initial lawfulness of carrying the knife “does not reduce the seriousness of its subsequent lethal use”.

Imran Khan KC, for Digwa, argued that overlapping aggravating factors had been counted more than once. The judges accepted that some should not have counted against Digwa, including the wider community impact, which the court said he had not anticipated or intended.

Aggravating factors cited in court

The Attorney General’s submissions pointed to several features of the case. They included a false allegation of racism against Mr Nowak, which police body-worn video showed led to officers handcuffing him as he lay dying. They also cited the filming of the dying teenager and what was described as sustained attempts to pervert the course of justice. Baroness Carr described the filming as “incomprehensible cruelty”. The trial judge had earlier found the racism accusation to be a lie.

Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, was jailed for three years in July for assisting an offender by removing the knife from the scene. She dropped an appeal against that sentence shortly before the hearing.

Family reaction and what happens next

Mr Nowak’s family called the ruling “an important step towards justice” but said no sentence could return their son. “We have been given a life sentence of grief,” they said, adding that their “fight for justice is far from over”. They said they would support the independent rapid review being led by former lord chancellor Alex Chalk, which will examine the killing and “any missed opportunities to intervene”.

Ms Reeves said the “brutality and cruelty of this case horrified me” and that she hoped the outcome would bring the family some justice.

The legal process is not entirely over. Digwa has applied to appeal against his murder conviction, and that application will be decided separately.

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