US criticizes ‘two-tiered policing’ in response to UK murder case
The controversy centres on the death of Henry Nowak, who was 18 when he was fatally stabbed last year. As he lay wounded, police handcuffed the white teenager after his attacker falsely claimed he had carried out a...
A transatlantic political row has erupted over the killing of a student in England, after the US State Department stepped into the debate and denounced what it described as “ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing” as evidence of a broader civilisational decline.
The controversy centres on the death of Henry Nowak, who was 18 when he was fatally stabbed last year. As he lay wounded, police handcuffed the white teenager after his attacker falsely claimed he had carried out a racist assault.
- Advertisement -
On Monday, his killer, Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, was jailed for life.
Footage from the scene appeared to show officers disregarding Mr Nowak’s pleas as he lay dying. The images have intensified scrutiny of why police accepted the allegation of racism, while seemingly failing to believe Mr Nowak as he repeatedly said he had been stabbed and could not breathe.
The killing has provoked anger across Britain, with populist leader Nigel Farage and tech billionaire Elon Musk amplifying claims of “two-tier policing” — the argument that fear of racism accusations has led authorities to extend greater protection to ethnic minorities than to others.
“Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilisational decline,” the US State Department wrote 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 added.
Britain’s government pushed back sharply against the intervention from the Trump administration.
Downing Street rejected the claim that two-tier policing exists in the UK, echoing Justice Secretary David Lammy, who said earlier that the description did not reflect his own experience.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the police had serious questions to answer over their handling of the case, including the extent to which accusations of racism shaped officers’ response. An investigation is under way.
Protesters face off with riot police near the spot where Henry Nowak died
At the same time, he denounced the violent disorder that broke out on Tuesday night, calling it “unforgivable” to use Mr Nowak’s death to inflame tensions after Mr Farage urged people to react with “pure cold rage”.
Starmer also told Mr Musk yesterday to stop intervening in British politics, after the billionaire posted repeatedly about the case and said it demonstrated police bias against white people in Britain.
The local force has denied accusations of bias. But senior officers said they would review guidance — developed in response to decades of well-documented racism in policing — on how different ethnicities should be treated by police.
Mark Nowak and Katie Woodcock, the father and stepmother of Henry Nowak, at Downing Street for a meeting with Keir Starmer
Mr Nowak’s family, who met Starmer privately yesterday, said the way police treated him was “inhumane and degrading”. They also insisted his death must not be “used to create further division, hatred or tension”.
Deputy British Prime Minister David Lammy told Sky News this morning that he welcomed the condolences offered by the US government to the Nowak family, but said he did not recognise “this caricature of Britain having a two-tier criminal justice system”.
