Nigel Farage led outrage at footage of police handcuffing a stabbing victim and ignoring his pleas for help – as his Sikh killer branded him a racist.

The Reform leader insisted “white lives matter too” and complained of “two-tier” justice amid fury at the last moments of 18 year-old Henry Nowak.

Kemi Badenoch has also intervened, saying “all lives matter” – but criticised Farage for “reinforcing difference” with his focus on race.

The innocent teenager repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” and begged for an ambulance after being knifed six times by stranger Vickrum Digwa, 23. But officers instead arrested and handcuffed him as he lay dying on the ground.

Digwa used an eight-inch ceremonial dagger to carry out the murder in Southampton city centre last December. The injured student was then arrested as he lay dying on the ground, drowning in his own blood. 

The killer – who was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison yesterday – did not know Nowak but told a “wicked lie” to officers that he had been subjected to racist abuse, punched and had his turban knocked off.

Hampshire Police was last week forced to apologise to Nowak’s family for arresting the fatally injured teenager.

Deputy Chief Constable Robert France told the Daily Mail: “I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is looking into how the officers acted.

The case has caused international outrage, with tech billionaire Elon Musk offering to fund a private prosecution against the police. There have also been questions about whether anti-racism training may have influenced officers’ judgement.

Farage said the public should respond with “pure cold rage” because Nowak was “actually treated in a way that meant an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder”.

He warned that “we are living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities”.

Public comment on the case was previously limited to avoid prejudicing the trial, and police released the footage after the sentencing.

The Attorney General’s office is considering the jail sentence after receiving “multiple requests” to review it under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme. …

In a video statement, Farage said: “Henry’s family have responded to this in just the most extraordinarily dignified way.

“But I suggest the rest of us respond to this with pure cold rage.

“This is wrong. All the values and standards of living in a free country where everybody is judged equally before the law have been trashed and thrown away.”

The Reform UK leader said: “What does he say? I can’t breathe.

“Familiar words. Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwest America a few years ago.

“Remember the reaction to that and the way the police behaved? Within a few days Keir Starmer was taking the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded all over the country. Churchill’s statue was defaced, the cenotaph was vandalised.”

Farage added: “The most important thing that needs to change, that has to change, if our society is not to be ripped apart, where communities start to distrust each other and deeply distrust the police and all the other institutions of this country, is we need a change in culture.

“Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives.

“An end to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law.

“This is serious. This is urgent. I fear for where our society will be in a few short years if we don’t grip this and do it very, very quickly.”