𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is weighing up tighter laws on Sikh daggers in the aftermath of the murder of Henry Nowak. Ms Mahmood confirmed that she had not “taken any options off the table” when it came to changing current laws which exempt religious items from knife laws.

It comes after increased scrutiny on how the government approaches the ownership of Kirpan knives following Vickrum Digwa using one to murder Mr Nowak. The killer used an eight-inch blade to carry out the attack, and then persuaded the court it was a Kirpan – a religious item Sikh men carry.

Britain was left shocked after footage of Mr Nowak being arrested as he lay dying from multiple stab wounds emerged. In that footage Digwa falsely claimed he had been racially abused. The claim, and police reaction, led to accusations of two-tier policing, a disorder in Southampton where the killing took place.

Digwa will now serve a minimum of 25 years inside after a judge ruled the sentence he had initially been handed was to be hiked by a further 4 years – branding the previous sentence “unduly lenient”. The family of Mr Nowak are campaigning for the government to tighten up the definition of the Kirpan in British law.

Current rules set in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 allow Sikhs to wear one if they have been baptised and received spiritual training. When he attacked and murdered Mr Nowak, Digwa was carrying a 21cm-long weapon and a small kirpan.

When asked by ITV about potential changes to the law, Ms Mahmood said: “I haven’t taken any options off the table. I’m also not going in with a fixed mind about what the right clarifications of the law might be.

“It’s important to get the right balance between religious expression in this country, which is something that many of us of a faith, including myself, hold very dearly, but do so in a way that is within what we expect of our citizens for the purposes of the criminal law.”

She added: “The religious exemption has been long understood, but recent practices of much bigger kirpans on display is much different to how most Sikhs have practised this part of their religion, where usually it’s a much smaller blade and is discreetly worn.

“What I’ve undertaken to the Nowak family is that I will look at this issue carefully.”

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said that the law change would be “reasonable”

She added: “Protecting religious freedoms means one particular thing. There is no freedom to murder in any religion. And I think that we need to bring some common sense into this”.

“This is something that we do need to look at because we want to make sure that religious minorities are integrated into our culture and that people don’t use loopholes which exist for religious minorities to commit crimes.”

She added: “I don’t think using a religious object should allow you to have a lesser sentence. If somebody hurts you with a wooden crucifix, they shouldn’t get a lighter sentence.”