Family says police misled them after Southampton student's stabbing

The night of the stabbing

On the night of 3 December 2025, an 18-year-old student was heading home on foot after an evening out with teammates in Southampton when a man stabbed him five times with a ceremonial dagger, according to the BBC and the Telegraph. The attacker, Vickrum Digwa, then told police falsely that the student had racially abused him. Officers arrived and handcuffed the young man while he was still bleeding, and body-worn camera footage later captured him repeatedly saying he had been stabbed. In the recording, an officer answered that he did not think so. Digwa was eventually jailed for life. His mother received a three-year sentence for assisting an offender after she took away the blade her son had used.

Shifting accounts from police

The family says officers first told them the student had been the aggressor, and that first aid had been given immediately. As their contact with police continued, the account changed several times. Officers were first described as having given first aid, then as having detained everyone, then as having detained only the student, and finally as having handcuffed and arrested him. The family says they felt they were being told less than the truth, and the police watchdog initially said there was no evidence of misconduct by officers. Hours after learning of the death, the family found a Southampton Police Facebook post that suggested the student had started the violence, describing two people attacked by an unknown man.

The family's account of the night

The student's stepmother saw a police car on the driveway, and an officer was holding his hat, which told her something terrible had happened. The father fell to his knees on hearing the news, and his daughter later recalled him screaming 'my boy, my boy'. Officers reached the mother's home at about 1am. It took police a further 24 hours to identify the body and inform the family. The family says their world changed twice: first when they learned of the death, and again when they watched the police footage. The stepmother said the family had been failed several times, feared being manipulated in their darkest hours, and believed some decisions were aimed at protecting police reputation rather than helping them.

Investigations and review

The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), is investigating the officers' conduct. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has launched an independent review, led by former lord chancellor Alex Chalk, that will examine any missed opportunities to intervene before the killing. The footage prompted widespread political outrage when it emerged. The family gave its first interviews to ITV for a documentary about its fight for justice, and spoke publicly for the first time about the moment they learned of the death.