Summary

  1. Henry Nowak's family 'do not support' Southampton unrest, police and crime commissioner tells BBCpublished at 15:42 BST
    Breaking

    Donna Jones

    Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Donna Jones says Henry Nowak's family were "disappointed" to see the violent protests in Southampton on Tuesday night.

    Jones tells the BBC she has spoken to the 18-year-old's family, who told her: "They do not support protests, they do not support the kind of unrest that we saw on the streets.

    "They've called for calm, and if you recall back to Mark Nowak's statement on the steps of the court on Monday this week, when his son’s murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment, he actually said quite the opposite - he asked for calm and he asked for reflection.

    "What they don't want is hate and division coming off the back of the tragedy of Henry's death.”

  2. 'What happened last night does not reflect us', MP sayspublished at 15:34 BST

    Satvir Kaur

    Southampton Test MP Satvir Kaur has been out meeting constituents who were affected by last night's disorder.

    The Labour MP says: "The brutal murder of Henry Nowak has really shook our community to its core and people are rightly really upset, distressed and sad.

    "And actually last night's riots have made people scared too.

    "I'm speaking to mums who are scared to send their children out and people that are too scared to actually open the door.

    "Southampton is a great, strong, diverse city and what happened last night does not reflect us."

  3. Clear up continues after last night's protestpublished at 15:27 BST

    Duncan Kennedy
    South of England correspondent, reporting from Southampton

    The streets around the protest area are now calm, but there's a lot of clearing up being done.

    This is an area of semi-detached houses and student accommodation. Amid the umbrellas and driving rain, local resident Sophie tells me she had a brick smash her car window.

    "It was very frightening," she says, "there were missiles being thrown and smoke bombs being let off."

    Another neighbour had his fence trampled and a brick wall torn down, to be used as missiles by the demonstrators.

    The man, who didn't want to be named, says he "didn't dare come out, it was that bad".

  4. Memorial for Nowak outside local police stationpublished at 15:11 BST

    Nick Johnson
    Reporting from Southampton

    Memorial for Henry Nowak, which includes black and white photos of him and bouquets of flowers. These are laid in front of Portswood Police Station.

    A shrine to Henry Nowak has been placed outside a local police station, only a few moments’ walk from the epicentre of last night’s disorder.

    Some of the placards bearing Henry’s picture also carry a logo of the group Remigration Now.

    Remigration Now is a group that calls for remigration, which is widely understood to mean the mass "return" or deportation of people with a migrant background.

  5. What do we know about the officers who arrived at the scene of stabbing?published at 14:56 BST

    Nikki Mitchell
    Home Affairs correspondent, BBC South

    We believe the officers arrived at the scene of the stabbing in pairs - so two arrived first, then two more soon after.

    When the Nowak family read their statement out on the court steps after Digwa was handed a life sentence, they said they believed the officers involved remain on duty, although one resigned and was allowed to leave before giving an account to the police watchdog.

    Hampshire Police has confirmed that three of the officers are still serving and one officer has resigned - that was at the end of last year and not as a result of this incident.

    The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating officers' actions and we understand that initial accounts of the incident were given by all the officers there.

    More detailed accounts have also been given by all, except the officer who left.

    We also know that one serving officer who was not at the scene of the stabbing of Henry Nowak has been wrongly identified online, received death threats and has had to relocate to protect himself and his family.

    In the Commons yesterday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood condemned what she called a “dangerous undercurrent” of people making threats towards officers - making “a dreadful situation worse”.

  6. Officer resignation not related to Nowak killing, Hampshire Police sayspublished at 14:39 BST

    Yesterday, Hampshire Police confirmed the resignation of one of the officers involved in the Henry Nowak case.

    Now the force has clarified that the officer who resigned from the force left at the end of last year, and not as a result of the incident. Three officers involved in the case are still serving.

    As we've been reporting, the police watchdog - the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) - is investigating the constabulary's handling of the murder, which remains ongoing.

    The IOPC has said the officers called to the murder scene are being treated as witnesses, but that this will be kept under review.

  7. 'You could hear it down the road' - locals describe protestpublished at 14:22 BST

    Eddie Thomas

    Southampton resident Eddie Thomas tells the BBC that last night's protest was "absolutely insane".

    He says: "There were bricks being thrown... a bin fire was started literally as we arrived."

    Eddie adds that only around a third of the crowd were acting "rowdy" and "violent".

    "Most of the crowd were quite young... most of the crowd just stood filming," he says.

    Dylan Harwood

    Dylan Harwood, who has lived in the area for two years, says: "You could hear it coming down the road - all shouting and screaming and things being thrown at the police officers.

    "We stayed quite as far away as we could.

    "I understand the cause, but to be outside of a care home with vulnerable residents, kids in houses, throwing scooters and bricks at police... I think it's disrespectful to them."

  8. NPCC 'rightly' seeking to remove 'ambiguity' from anti-racism guidance, No 10 sayspublished at 14:16 BST

    As we've been reporting, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said on Tuesday it would review the language used in a document outlining anti-racism commitments.

    Downing Street says the NPCC is "rightly" seeking to remove "ambiguity" from its commitment in the wage of Henry Nowak's murder.

    Keir Starmer’s spokesman tells reporters: “We don’t think that language is right.”

    Asked what specific wording it is referring to, the spokesman says that is "for the NPCC to review" and that he would not "go through the guidance line by line".

    "The NPCC is independent of government. It’s right that they have the space to review the wording," he adds.

    No 10 also says Starmer would be "open to meeting" Henry Nowak's family "if they so wished".

  9. Where Henry Nowak was killed - and how protests spilled through Southamptonpublished at 14:08 BST

    Tuesday night saw protests erupt in Southampton over the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak.

    He was killed in Belmont Road in the city's Portswood area while walking home from a night out in December.

    Last night, a crowd of several hundred initially took part in a demonstration outside Southampton Central Police Station, before gathering close to the family home of Nowak's killer, Vickrum Digwa, in St Denys.

    A map showing Belmont Road, in Southampton, where Henry Nowak was stabbed, labelling the St Denys area, Portwood Police Station nearby and Southampton Central Police Station to the south west.
  10. Southampton council leader accuses protesters of 'jumping on gravy train'published at 13:57 BST

    Nick Johnson
    Reporting from Southampton

    Sarah Bogle

    The Labour leader of Southampton City Council, Sarah Bogle, says she feels it is part of her duty to be at the scene of the disorder today.

    Bogle - who has only been in the job for a fortnight - says “these are extraordinary times”, and she wants to be here to reassure local residents.

    She tells me quite a few of the protesters had come from outside the city, having “jumped on the gravy train” of a protest which she understood had been organised last minute on social media.

    When I ask if she’s concerned about the potential recurrence of last night’s disorder, she replies that she’s speaking to Hampshire Police later to discuss further intelligence.

  11. Officer injuries not serious, local Police Federation sayspublished at 13:47 BST
    Breaking

    Eleven Hampshire Police officers who were injured during last night's protest were not seriously hurt, the head of the local Police Federation branch says.

    Chairman Spencer Wragg says the "violent and sustained disorder... has no place on the streets of this country".

    He adds: "Thankfully none of the injuries sustained by colleagues – including seven by bricks being hurled at them - were serious but this does not diminish the dangers officers faced or the courage they displayed.

    "The perpetrators of such violence against our colleagues should and will face the full force of the law. We expect more arrests to follow."

  12. PM criticises 'disgraceful' protest violence after 11 officers injured - a recappublished at 13:44 BST

    People confront riot police as protesters gather near the location where Henry Nowak died during a demonstration over the Police's handling of the incident, on June 2, 2026 in Southampton, England.Image source, Getty Images

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denied claims of "two-tier policing", as he accuses Reform UK's leader of exploiting Henry Nowak's murder.

    The 18-year-old's murder, and unrest last night in Southampton, were the focus of this week's Prime Minister's Questions.

    Speaking from the House of Commons, Starmer acknowledged there are "serious questions" to answer, including on how accusations of racism informed police officers' thinking. He also praised Nowak's family for showing "extraordinary dignity".

    Earlier on Wednesday, Hampshire Police said 11 officers and one police dog were injured during protests in Southampton on Tuesday night. The prime minister described the violence as "disgraceful and unacceptable".

    Two people were arrested at the protests, police said in an update, with the number expected to rise as investigations continue. Over the next few days, more officers will also be patrolling neighbourhoods, Hampshire Police Chief Constable Alexis Boon said.

    The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has also started an investigation into the handling of Nowak's murder.

  13. Analysis

    Starmer passionate in his condemnation of Farage's approachpublished at 13:37 BST

    Henry Zeffman
    Chief political correspondent

    More now from today's Prime Minister's Questions.

    The most important exchange of that PMQs was without question the one between Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the prime minister.

    Starmer was passionate, perhaps as passionate as I have ever seen him in the House of Commons, in his condemnation of Farage’s approach.

    As Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, did yesterday, the prime minister seized on the comments by Henry Nowak’s father at the conclusion of the court case on Monday - saying that his son’s death should not be used to stoke division.

    On the substance of Farage’s point about police anti-racism guidance, while the government disagrees with Farage’s claim there is two-tier policing in the UK, the policing minister has said that guidance is “wrong” and a source close to Mahmood has said it is worded clumsily.

    What we also saw in that exchange was an unusual feature of our increasingly multi-party political system.

    Farage and Reform UK are a huge force in our politics, but in parliamentary terms they are a minuscule faction.

    That added to the drama of the moment, with Farage facing intense jeers and heckles, including from a committed group of Liberal Democrat MPs sitting immediately behind him.

  14. Southampton council urges commentators 'not to use language that could inflame tensions'published at 13:18 BST

    A line of police in front of vans are faced off by protestersImage source, PA Media

    Ahead of PMQs today, Southampton City Council has published a statement in response to last night's protest, saying: "There is no excuse for the kind of violence and disorder we saw last night."

    The council says people commenting from outside the city "should take care not to use language that could inflame tensions".

    While strong views on Henry Nowak's murder are understandable, the council says, it is important the Independent Office for Police Conduct is able to carry out an independent investigation.

    The council also says its crews are out this morning to clear the damage caused by last night's disorder.

  15. 'Two-tier policing' and Nowak family's plea - what we heard at PMQspublished at 13:06 BST

    Starmer facing Badenoch in CommonsImage source, House of Commons

    This week's PMQs has just finished and, although the main exchange between Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch didn't focus on Henry Nowak's murder and the disorder in Southampton last night, the situation was raised several times during the session.

    Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey echoed the Nowak family's plea that Henry's death "should not be used to create further division". He asks whether knife crime victims and their families deserve a politics that comes together to solve problems.

    Starmer responds that it's their duty to bring people together and listen "to what the devastated family are asking of us".

    Reform UK leader Nigel Farage suggests it's "clear" the UK is living under "two-tier policing". He says the anger seen in Southampton last night "is in danger of getting considerably worse" if the public lose trust in the police.

    Starmer says he doesn't believe there is two-tier policing in the UK.

    Labour MP for Southampton Itchen Darren Paffey asks Starmer if he agrees the Southampton disorder last night represents "the total opposite of what Henry's own family clearly and powerfully called for".

    The attacks on police officers were "disgraceful", Starmer responds, "there is no justification for further disorder".

  16. Analysis

    Cries of 'shame' as Reform's Nigel Farage pushes 'two-tier policing' claimspublished at 12:45 BST

    Chris Mason
    Political editor

    Nigel FarageImage source, House of Commons

    More from PMQs, where Keir Starmer faced further questions about Henry Nowak's murder and the protests that followed in Southampton on Tuesday night.

    Plenty may have anticipated that the main exchanges at PMQs this week would be dominated by the case of Henry Nowak.

    But the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has sought to emphasise her desire not to overtly politicise the issue - a position that brought public praise from the prime minister.

    The Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey adopted a similar stance. That in itself is, of course, political - and pointed directly in Reform UK’s direction.

    MPs knew that Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, had a question to come.

    The prime minister was able to set out his argument - of respecting the Nowak family’s desire for this not to be politicised - immediately before Farage’s question.

    Cries of "shame" from Labour MPs greeted the Reform leader standing up, and outrage when he referred to the scenes in Southampton last night and the prospect of further unrest to come.

    Farage argued the case proved there was what he calls "two-tier policing", something the prime minister dismisses.

    Beyond this case, the government and society at large wrestle with how it addresses long standing concerns about racism and how mechanisms to tackle this don’t lead to unintended or perverse consequences.

  17. Starmer: Time for serious work not rage after Nowak's murderpublished at 12:18 BST
    Breaking

    Over in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has begun PMQs by paying tribute to Henry Nowak and condemning Tuesday night's protests in Southampton.

    Starmer says Nowak's family have shown "extraordinary dignity", and stresses there are "serious questions" to answer "including how accusations of racism informed police thinking".

    He then calls the attacks on police officers "disgraceful and unacceptable" and says it is "time for serious work, not rage".

    The prime minister adds that anyone found engaging in disorder will meet "the full force of the law".

    Media caption,

    Attacks on police in Southampton 'disgraceful' - Starmer

  18. Do not 'take advantage' of Nowak's death for political gain, warns former chief superintendentpublished at 12:17 BST

    Dal Babu speaks to presenter in the Politics Live studio.

    A former chief superintendent for the Metropolitan Police has warned politicians not to "take advantage" of Henry Nowak's murder.

    Dal Babu tells BBC Politics Live that the investigation into Nowak's murder should not be used for political advantage, but says "certain individuals" have done so.

    He says some have "suddenly come to the idea" that race training has had a "disproportional impact" on how Nowak was treated, without "looking at the facts".

    Babu says Nowak's handcuffing and arrest after he had been stabbed is down to a "fundamental operational failure", adding that the public "need to have more information coming in before we can come to any decisions".

  19. Former senior Met officer says incident shows 'really poor policing'published at 12:09 BST

    Claire Quinn
    Northern Ireland reporter

    Shabnam ChaudhriImage source, Shabnam Chaudhri

    Former Metropolitan Police Det Supt Shabnam Chaudhri tells the BBC it is "very difficult to defend the actions of the officers at the scene" where Henry Nowak was handcuffed, saying it "demonstrates really, really poor policing".

    Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme, Chaudhri explains that when officers attended, they "didn’t preserve life" and "seem to ignore" when Henry Nowak said he couldn’t breathe and that he had been stabbed.

    She says in a situation like this, when there are two parties, the "first thing any police officer would do, even in their training, is separate them". Instead, she says, they allowed Vickrum Digwa to "hover over Henry".

    "There was no investigation, so simple questions, not enough questions asked to actually establish what had happened," she says.

    But she denies the "rhetoric of two-tier policing", saying things just "went horribly wrong".

  20. Southampton MPs say Henry Nowak's murder being used to 'whip up division'published at 11:54 BST

    Police hold shields with a line of protesters in front of themImage source, Getty Images

    Labour MPs Darren Paffey and Satvir Kaur have released a joint statement following Tuesday night's protests in Southampton.

    They say that while questions about the police response to Henry Nowak's murder are "legitimate", last night's violence "was not a lawful and peaceful protest".

    "Instead, it was the grotesque and cynical spectacle of a young man’s death being used to whip up division, inflame tensions, and provoke criminal disorder," the statement reads.

    Paffey and Kaur also refer to Nowak's family's statement, which stressed they do not want Henry's death to create further division.

    "Most of us in Southampton will rightly choose to respect the wishes of a grieving family while allowing the proper processes to run their course," the MPs write.

    The statement ends: "To those who choose to come to our city and hijack this tragedy to stoke hatred: you are not wanted here."