The true horror of the Sikh slaughter of Henry Novak

Tuesday blog

I couldn’t write a blog yesterday as the ‘wonderful’ security system protecting my website wouldn’t let me in to my own website.

The true horror of the Sikh slaughter of Henry Novak

We all know many of the details of the murder of white teenager Henry Novak and the way the murderer’s family tried to protect the murderer. But I’m not sure any national newspaper actually revealed in detail the true horror of the murder. For that, we have to go to the judge’s summing up:

Here’s just part of that summing up:

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Digwa-Final-Sentencing-Remarks.pdf

Not long after 11pm on 3/12/2025, Henry Nowak was walking back to his
university accommodation in Portswood, Southampton after an evening out.
His route took him north along Belmont Road and he was approaching a
junction with St Denys Road where you lived with your family. Henry was not
drunk but may have been affected a little by the small amount of alcohol he
had consumed over the previous few hours. He was not a regular drinker and
did not generally drink to excess. His blood alcohol level at the time of his
death was below the legal limit for driving. He was alone and unarmed. You
happened to be walking south along Belmont Road on the same pavement. It
was to be a chance meeting.

You were sober but were carrying a large Sikh dagger in a sheath attached to a
belt over the outside of your clothing.

You drew the dagger from its sheath and, as the jury was sure, you deliberately
stabbed Henry in the chest with it. The knife passed through, several layers of
clothing, as demonstrated by the multiple slits in his dark top where the material
had been overlaid on itself in the struggle and the single slit in his shirt. It passed
upwards through soft tissue, between the two uppermost ribs, catching a lung
and cutting an important vein, behind the collar bone. This was to a depth of
8cm from the skin surface. The consequent bleeding flowed into his chest cavity.

The pathologist, Amanda Jeffrey, found 1200 ml, or over 2 pints, of blood there.
She said that no emergency medical treatment would have permitted access to
the bleeding vein. In simple terms, he would not have survived, however quickly
he received first aid, CPR or expert medical treatment.

You also stabbed him twice to the upper leg at some point and once again to the
lower abdomen/groin area at the front. The latter only resulted in a knife tip
injury; the former were both to a substantial depth although not as deep as the
chest wound. Henry’s face was also slashed with the blade of the dagger but I
cannot be sure that was aimed or intended. However, one or more of the four
stabs must have had an immediate effect as Henry was never able to put up his
hands to defend himself from further serious injury. He was defenceless.

Your brother, Gurpreet, arrived on the scene very shortly after your attack had
finished. You then filmed Henry desperately trying to get away from you,
somehow scaling a fence, onto a communal bin, before landing on a car in front
of the property next door. Bloodstains show that he had got one, more or all his
injuries before then.

You then showed a callous disregard for his wellbeing, knowing you had stabbed
him to the chest. You continued to make films of Henry suffering, ignoring much
of his desperation at having been stabbed. You told him that had not happened,
no doubt to convince others who were nearby. Your attitude did not change even
though Henry was clearly going downhill very fast. Your brother did much the
same, although he may just have been accepting that which you had told him,
rather than lying himself. You lied to him that you had been attacked, picking
up on his question about whether it had been accompanied by racism by falsely
claiming that Henry had called you a “Paki.” I am sure that Henry had said nothing racist. You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely
at odds with his previous character.

You joined your brother in relating these lies to the police. By then your mother
and father were at the scene. Gurpreet explained that no weapons had been
involved or were present. In fact, whilst he was talking to the call operator, you
told your mother to take the murder weapon, sheath and belt away which she
did. You did not tell your father what had really happened. Much of the time you
just stood by as he, at least, tried to do something to help Henry.

You carried on telling these wicked lies when police attended on the scene,
hampering them in doing their job and, effectively, obstructing the course of
justice. You kept Henry’s phone with the incriminating recording of you on it.
You had no intention of handing it over. It was found on you after you had been
arrested and taken into police custody.

Thereafter, the time came when the police needed permission from a court to
extend the time for you to be questioned in custody and arranged for you and
Gurpreet to be taken there for that purpose. They took the opportunity to record
secretly any conversation between the two of you on the journey. Speaking in
Punjabi, you agreed to pretend you had acted in self-defence even though you
confessed to stabbing Henry three times, including once to the chest with the
dagger. You knew you were guilty, demonstrated by your saying to Gurpreet that
if there were any cameras in that part of Belmont Road, you would be unable to
put forward self-defence. You decided, much as you had at the scene, to try to
cover it up. In all your police interviews, you decided not to answer questions
about the incident. Instead, you made a written statement, on 7/12/2025, which
told more lies.

I will not comment on the ‘Britishness’ or tribal behaviour of the murderer and his family. I will merely wonder whether their reaction to the murder makes civil war inevitable.