The Home Office just ordered a review into Henry Nowak's death

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has just announced an independent review into the murder of Henry Nowak.

She told the House of Commons a few hours ago.

Henry Nowak was 18. Vickrum Digwa stabbed him to death in Southampton. That was on the third of December last year.

Shabana Mahmood has picked Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC to lead the review. He's the former Lord Chancellor.

She says quote "His murder was a senseless crime".

So why does a closed case need a review at all?

Here's why.

Vickrum Digwa is Sikh. Before he stabbed Henry Nowak, he falsely accused him of racial abuse.

Then police handcuffed Henry Nowak as he lay dying.

Body-worn camera footage caught it. He's heard saying, again and again, that he'd been stabbed. An officer replies that he doesn't think so.

That footage only came out after sentencing. And it's what has driven calls for this review ever since.

Vickrum Digwa was jailed for life on the first of June this year. His minimum term is 21 years.

His mother, Kiran Kaur, was jailed too. Three years, for removing the murder weapon from the scene. That weapon was a 21cm blade.

Now, the police handling has already triggered two separate processes.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is looking at two Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary officers. They were first on scene. The IOPC is examining them for potential gross misconduct. That probe opened four months ago and it hasn't concluded.

Separately, the policing inspectorate is checking the force's control room, its dispatch, and its training. The Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire, Donna Jones, commissioned that one. It started about two months ago.

So today's review sits alongside those two. But it goes wider.

It asks what every agency around Vickrum Digwa knew. Not just the police on the night. Police, health services, schools, local authorities, faith organisations — all of it, going back five years.

Were there warning signs about weapons or violence that got missed? That's the question phase one has to answer.

Phase two then looks at what the officers did at the scene itself.

Alex Chalk is due to report back on phase one by March next year. Shabana Mahmood told the Commons that's within five months.

She says quote "This review will leave no stone unturned in seeking those answers".

So what does the family make of it?

The Nowak family called it a significant moment in their fight for justice. Their own words.

But not everyone thinks the timeline is good enough.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, called the five-month wait for a first report totally unacceptable.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, welcomed the review. She says she's the one who called for it.

And the Home Office? It wouldn't comment on Kiran Kaur's case directly. But it did say this: it will always seek to deport foreign criminals at the first opportunity.

So what's still not known?

What that five-year look-back will actually find. Whether the IOPC decides the two officers broke professional standards. And when that investigation even ends.

Henry Nowak was a first-year accounting and finance student at the University of Southampton. He was killed on Belmont Road. A short walk from where he was meant to be building a life.

That review now has a deadline.

The questions his family has been asking for almost a year still don't.