A war of words has erupted between U.S. and British officials after a young Briton with a bright future bled out in handcuffs as police took him into custody on suspicion of making racial remarks, only to learn later that his killer fabricated the allegation.Â
The State Department issued a harsh rebuke Thursday night amid online outrage stemming from the stabbing of Henry Nowak, and Vice President JD Vance was quick to pile-on, claiming the incident proves that western civilization is at risk.
“Ideological conditioning and of civilizational decline,” the State Department wrote Thursday in a viral post on X. “They must be rejected across the West. The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”
It was the first time the Trump administration commented publicly on the horrific stabbing.
In December 2025, Nowak was returning home from a night playing with friends in the southern England city of Southampton when he encountered 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, a British Sikh man of Indian heritage wearing a turban and carrying a long ceremonial knife.
Nowak was later handcuffed by police after Digwa claimed the student was racist against him, and police refused to believe him when he said he was stabbed. He died while in police custody.
“Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit,” Vance wrote on X in a lengthy post addressing the overseas crime.
“His murder is as tragic as it is enraging,” the vice president continued. “He should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”
He reiterated how a top priority of the Trump administration is working to preserve western civilization by stopping mass migration.
Vance’s post drew an immediate response from across the pond.Â
“In recent days we have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.Â
“The Nowak family are grieving after Henrys horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes,” the statement continued. “Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”
Nowak filmed the initial encounter before his death, where he called Digwa a “bad man.”
“I am a bad man,” Digwa replied, taking offense to the comment. He then stabbed the student five times, including a fatal wound to his chest. What came next sparked worldwide outrage while Digwa, now convicted of murder, was on trial in May.
Body cameras officers show Digwa alleging racial abuse and claiming Nowak removed his turban. The police took Digwa’s word, and handcuffed Nowak when they located him. Footage shows Nowak lying on the ground, repeatedly telling officers he couldn’t breathe.
When Nowak told officers he had been stabbed, one is heard dismissing him with: “Don’t think you have, mate.”
The young student bled to death in police custody.
It was later revealed that Digwa called his mother, Kiran Kaur, who arrived at the before the police so she could take the murder weapon to their family home and hide it. She was recently found guilty of assisting an offender and will be sentenced July 17.
Digwa was sentenced on June 1 to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.
Carrying knives in Britain is a heavily regulated practice, and certain types of knives are banned
