Henry Nowak, 18, died after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa in the English city of Southampton in December. Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed to police he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him. Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder for stabbing Nowak with an 8-inch Sikh dagger and sentenced this week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term.
The case has been seized on by anti-immigration activists and politicians, despite the fact that both Nowak and his killer were British. On Tuesday, police in Southampton were pelted with chairs, cans, rocks and flares after a demonstration over Nowak's death attended by far-right figures and others. Vance said in a post on social platform X on Friday that there should be “righteous anger” in response to the murder, which he blamed in part on “the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”