Nigel Farage delivers his statement on what he called the UK’s two-tier culture (Image: Getty)
Raging Nigel Farage warned the “rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities” as anger erupted over the police handling of the Henry Nowak murder. The Reform UK leader said victim Mr Nowak was “actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder”.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for life, with a minimum of 21 years, for stabbing Henry, 18, with a ceremonial knife. And Digwa claimed he had been a victim of racist abuse. Police bodycam footage showed officers handcuffing Mr Nowak and ignorning claims he had been stabbed, with one even telling him “I don’t think you have mate”.
The Reform UK leader said: “What does he say? I can’t breathe.
“Familiar words. Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwest America a few years ago.
“Remember the reaction to that and the way the police behaved? Within a few days Keir Starmer was taking the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded all over the country. Churchill’s statue was defaced, the cenotaph was vandalised.
“And yet, what has the public reaction been from our leaders and politicians, and indeed, to be frank, much of the media to this?
“Silence, absolute silence. Proof, if ever there was any, that we are living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.”
Public comment on the case has been limited because of the ongoing court case and the need to avoid prejudicing the trial that led to the conviction of Vickrum Digwa for Mr Nowak’s murder.
But shocking bodycam footage released by Hampshire Constabulary late on Monday night revealed the true horror of the case.
Digwa’s family can be seen surrounding Henry, telling officers “he keeps dropping” and that he “has a mouthful of blood”.
Officers then ask Digwa what happened, before asking if he had been injured.
They then dragged Henry, who was collapsed on the floor across the gravel, while saying “let’s get you out of there, shall we?”
The 18-year-old then told officers he had been stabbed, before an officer responded: “I don’t think you have, mate.”
Henry is then placed in handcuffs while repeatedly telling them: “I can’t breathe.”
A female officer eventually asks Henry, who is in handcuffs at this point, “where do you think you’ve been stabbed?” before saying to her colleague, “we have to check, don’t we”.
She eventually called an ambulance after realising his “pupils aren’t even reacting”.
The near-three-minute footage ends with the arresting officer asking for Henry’s name, before reading him his rights.
And Mr Farage said society should respond with “cold rage”.
“Henry’s family have responded to this in just the most extraordinarily dignified way.
“But I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage.
“This is wrong. All the values and standards of living in a free country where everybody is judged equally before the law have been trashed and thrown away.”
He added: “The most important thing that needs to change, that has to change, if our society is not to be ripped apart, where communities start to distrust each other and deeply distrust the police and all the other institutions of this country, is we need a change in culture.
“Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives.
“An end to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law.
“This is serious. This is urgent. I fear for where our society will be in a few short years if we don’t grip this and do it very, very quickly.”
