Vickrum Digwa (23) was sentenced to life imprisonment at Southampton Crown Court last month after being found guilty of murdering Henry Nowak in December. The court ordered that he must serve a minimum of 21 years before becoming eligible to apply for parole.

During the trial, prosecutors said Digwa and Nowak were complete strangers before the fatal attack.

Digwa claimed he had been subjected to racist abuse, assaulted by the victim and had his turban knocked off. However, the trial judge rejected those claims, describing them as false and inconsistent with the evidence and the victim’s character.

The case attracted widespread public attention after police bodycam footage captured Henry Nowak, who had sustained fatal injuries, repeatedly telling officers, “I can’t breathe.” He later died while in police custody after being handcuffed.

Separately, the Solicitor General has already referred Digwa’s 21-year minimum term to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme, seeking a review of whether the sentence was too lenient.

Digwa has now submitted his own application seeking permission to appeal both the conviction and the sentence. A single judge will first decide whether the application has sufficient merit to proceed to a full hearing before a panel of three judges in the Court of Appeal’s Criminal Division. No decision has yet been made on whether permission to appeal will be granted.

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