Mother Who Removed Murder Weapon After Son Killed Student [Jailed / Given Suspended Sentence]

Kiran Kaur has been jailed for three years after Southampton Crown Court found her role in removing the knife used to murder university student Henry Nowak was serious enough to require an immediate custodial sentence.

The 53-year-old was sentenced after being convicted of assisting an offender by taking the 21cm (8in) dagger from the scene shortly after her son, Vickrum Digwa, fatally stabbed the 18-year-old in Southampton in December 2025.

Passing sentence, Judge William Mousley KC said Kaur had acted out of a mistaken desire to protect her son rather than for any personal gain and accepted she was unlikely to offend again. He noted she had endured a “hard life” before moving from India nearly 30 years ago and was well established within the Sikh community.

However, the judge said the gravity of her offending outweighed those mitigating factors. He told Kaur: “The seriousness of your offending requires you to be punished,” adding that an immediate prison sentence was also necessary to deter others from helping offenders evade justice.

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Addressing the defendant, Judge Mousley said: “Your son murdered him,” describing Henry as “a much loved, kind and devoted young man” whose death had caused “devastating and lifelong” consequences for his family.

The court heard Kaur removed the murder weapon after Digwa asked her to do so while his brother falsely maintained to police that no weapon had been used. Although she did not attempt to physically hide the dagger, the judge said placing it among other ceremonial and bladed weapons in her son’s bedroom had “helped to conceal what it had been used for” because she wanted him “to avoid being caught”.

He added: “A responsible parent would have challenged their son” and encouraged him to “do the right thing” rather than assist him.

During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Nicholas Lobbenberg KC described Kaur’s actions as “criminality of the highest order”, submitting that her removal of the knife had been crucial to the aftermath of the killing.

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For the defence, Mark Watson argued Kaur’s actions had been a spontaneous attempt to protect her child rather than a calculated effort to obstruct justice. He said she was of previous good character, posed an “incredibly low risk of re-offending” and invited the court to suspend any prison sentence.

Digwa was jailed for life in June after being convicted of Henry Nowak’s murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place. He must serve a minimum term of 21 years before becoming eligible for parole.

As Kaur was led from the dock following sentence, she wiped away tears with a tissue while members of Henry Nowak’s family were escorted from the courtroom by court staff.