US government criticises ‘two-tier’ UK policing after Henry Nowak murder

Tributes and flowers to Henry Nowak outside Portswood police station in Southampton. Photograph: Andrew Croft/Solent News & Photo Agency/Solent News View image in fullscreen Tributes and flowers to Henry Nowak outside Portswood police station in Southampton. Photograph: Andrew Croft/Solent News & Photo Agency/Solent News US government criticises ‘two-tier’ UK policing after Henry Nowak murder State department warns of ‘ideological conditioning’ in message of condolence to family of murdered student The US state department has criticised “two-tiered policing” in Britain in a message of condolence to the family of the murder victim Henry Nowak in a thinly veiled rebuke of the UK government. The 18-year-old student’s murder has been claimed by some as evidence of two-tier policing in the UK – the argument that some groups of people are dealt with more harshly than others for ideological reasons. Police chief warns anti-white bias claims could drive UK policing ‘back to 60s’ Read more Nowak was handcuffed by Hampshire police officers as he lay dying after his killer, Vickrum Digwa, had falsely accused him of racist abuse. Digwa was ultimately convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years. The billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk, and the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, are among those who have claimed the circumstances of Nowak’s false arrest and murder was evidence of a bias against white people . Both have in turn been accused of exploiting the teenager’s death. On Thursday night the US state department, responsible for foreign policy and led by Marco Rubio, waded in to the debate . In a post on X, the department said: “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilisational decline. 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.” Allow content provided by a third party? This article includes content hosted on platform.x.com . We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue' . Allow and continue It came after Keir Starmer accused Musk of “interfering in our politics” and attempting to create division . Musk is a regular poster of ethno-nationalist content, and a supporter of Restore Britain, the hard-right party set up by Rupert Lowe, a former Reform UK MP. The prime minister’s comments came after weeks of posts by Musk on his social media platform about Nowak’s murder, many of which have used far-right themes and talking points. Starmer met Nowak’s family at Downing Street on Thursday to discuss a response to the actions of Hampshire police, saying after that he had been “profoundly humbled” and promised to take “whatever action is required to right the wrongs in this case”. The police watchdog, the Independent Office of Police Conduct, is examining the behaviour of