Mother of Henry Nowak’s killer jailed for assisting son by removing knife from murder scene

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google

Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years on June 1 for the murder of the 18-year-old finance student, after falsely claiming Mr Nowak had racially abused him.

Digwa's mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was found guilty in May of assisting her son by removing the murder weapon from the scene.

The court heard how she took the 21cm (8in) knife, which Digwa used to stab Henry five times, after turning up at the scene of the attack.

Kaur took the murder weapon, a Sikh ceremonial dagger, back to the family home in Southampton and "put it with a larger collection" of weapons in her son's bedroom.

Sentencing Kaur to three years on Friday, Judge William Mousley KC said: “A responsible parent would have challenged their son over their actions and encourage them to do the right thing.

Read more: Henry Nowak's killer Vickrum Digwa denies multiple weapons offences alongside brother and father

Read more: Henry Nowak’s killer Vickrum Digwa 'applies to have murder conviction quashed and sentence reduced'

“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.”

Prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC had told the court her role was “crucial” in removing the murder weapon at a time the police were coming to the scene.

He said: “The absence of weapon at the scene caused by her actions hampered the police attending who were, as your Honour will recall, were 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.”

Barrister Mark Watson, defending Kaur, said at the time of the incident Kaur only became involved after receiving a phone call that her son had been attacked, as she was getting ready for bed.

He said the mother was “equally misled” as Digwa lied to those around him about what happened.He said what she did was a “spontaneous” act, not a calculated plan, adding: “The weapon was not destroyed, it was not cleaned, it was not broken up and hidden.

”The knife was still within its sheath, he added.

“Offending arose during a moment of panic and human frailty, the court may think,” he said.

He 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.

Kaur, aided by a Punjabi interpreter, appeared emotional in the dock, drying her eyes with tissues during her mitigation.

She has spent more than seven months in custody since her arrest.

Earlier this month, Vickrum Digwa's sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General with a view to increasing the sentence.

It sparked national outrage and accusations of two-tier policing after it emerged police handcuffed the victim as he lay dying and failed to get him prompt medical treatment after he told them he’d been stabbed.

It has now emerged that killer Digwa, who stabbed his victim to death with a Sikh ceremonial dagger, has applied to have his conviction quashed and to have his jail term reduced.

A Court of Appeal official has confirmed that Digwa's case had previously been referred to them as "unduly lenient".

The grounds of Digwa’s appeal have not been made clear.