The MP for Southampton Itchin, where 18-year-old student Henry Nowak was murdered with a Sikh ceremonial blade, has called for tougher knife regulations.

Labour’s Darren Paffey is a Christian and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society. 

Bodycam footage of the moments before Nowak’s death shows police treating him as a suspect, handcuffing him and ignoring his cries that he had been stabbed.

Murderer Vickrum Digwa, 23, had falsely alleged to police that Nowak had racially insulted him, when in fact, Digwa had stabbed him five times with the large blade.

“I’ve watched the bodycam footage, and it is both heartbreaking and infuriating,” Darren Paffey told the House of Commons. “It makes it plain for all to see how Henry posed no threat that would warrant being handcuffed, and yet was treated as a criminal based on the lies of his murderer.”

“No one in their right mind thinks that one Sikh or one or two police officers represents all Sikhs, or the entire police force,” Paffey continued. “As Henry's father has said, this is about murder, about our response to it, and about our prevention of it.”

The Labour MP insisted that Britain has “a knife problem” which is not being addressed by current legislation.

“We've taken early steps to ban zombie knives and to crack down on knife sellers, but it is obvious that is not enough.

“Will the Secretary of State commit to clarifying a set of tough and consistent life laws, and the resources to enforce them, so that we can actually move on?”

Home Secretary Shabhana Mahmood said Paffey was “right” about Britain’s knife crisis, but insisted that the government’s Knife Crime Action Plan “does have the resources it needs” to tackle the issue.

Mahmood also said that a meeting is set to take place between the Nowak family and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.