The emotional presenter also blasted Hampshire Police force for the public apology over the incident.
Martin Daubney was close to tears as he talked about the case (Image: GB News)
GB News host Martin Daubney was overcome with emotion live on air as he discussed the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, admitting the tragedy left him thinking about his own teenage son. Daubney became visibly emotional while discussing CCTV footage showing the teenager checking his hair in a lift shortly before he was fatally stabbed in Southampton.
Reflecting on the footage, the presenter said: “When you see those pictures of an 18-year-old boy checking his hair in a lift on a night out, just an ordinary kid with his whole life ahead of him. My boy turned 17 yesterday… it’s just so heartbreaking.” The GB News host also condemned the handling of the incident by police after it emerged officers handcuffed Henry while he repeatedly told them he had been stabbed. Daubney said: “An 18-year-old lad, just gone, betrayed, in his dying moment, just wasn’t listened to.” He added: “We’ll never know. If they’d put him in the recovery position, if they’d have tended to him sooner, we just won’t ever know. But he’s gone.”
Henry Nowak was stabbed to death (Image: GB News)
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was convicted of murdering Henry following the attack in Southampton on December 3. During the hearing, the court heard Digwa stabbed the teenager five times using a Sikh ceremonial sword known as a kirpan before falsely claiming he had been the victim of a racist attack.
Prosecutors described the allegations as a “wicked lie”.
Despite Henry desperately telling officers he had been stabbed, police initially arrested and handcuffed him moments before he collapsed unconscious from his injuries. He later died despite emergency first aid efforts.
During the emotional GB News segment, Daubney blasted Hampshire Police’s public apology over the incident.
“We’ve got the police chief today saying sorry, I don’t think that’s enough,” he fumed. “To look at someone like that and then to just try and think ahead to how they would lay gurgling on a pavement, disbelieved by the police.”
Justice journalist David Shipley also appeared on the programme and argued the case exposed wider issues around policing and race.
Vickrum Digwa didn’t tell police he had stabbed Nowak (Image: GB News)
Meanwhile, Hampshire Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct following the public backlash.
Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France issued an apology, saying: “I’m sorry that Henry’s life couldn’t be saved that night, and I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness.”
The force admitted Digwa repeatedly lied to officers after calling police rather than an ambulance following the stabbing.
Digwa was also convicted of possessing a bladed weapon in public, while his mother, Kiran Kaur, was found guilty of assisting an offender after removing the murder weapon from the scene.
The case has drawn national attention, with Elon Musk reportedly offering to fund a private prosecution against police over the handling of the incident.
Digwa is due to be sentenced on June 1.
