What was claimed
Vickrum Digwa, who killed Henry Nowak, has been attacked in prison.
Our verdict
False. The Ministry of Justice confirmed Vickrum Digwa has not been attacked in prison.
Henry Nowak killer has not been attacked in prison
Posts shared thousands of times on social media claim that Henry Nowak’s murderer, Vickrum Digwa, has been attacked in prison.
Some posts claim Digwa was attacked with a “mixture of boiling water and sugar” that “was thrown at his face, causing serious burns”.
But this isn’t true. The Ministry of Justice confirmed to Full Fact that “Vickrum Digwa has not been attacked in prison”.
The false claim has been circulating since at least 6 June. Many posts share or cite a post from a Facebook page called Sunderland & North East News, including in a now-deleted post from the author and GB News presenter Matt Goodwin, who stood for Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.
“This claim circulated widely on social media,” Mr Goodwin told Full Fact.
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“It was linked to a news source, in this case Sunderland and North East News. I have requested it be taken down due to the ambivalence about whether it happened.”
We have contacted Sunderland & North East News about its post and will update this article if the page responds.
Digwa stabbed Mr Nowak in December 2025 and lied to police, claiming he had been the victim of a racist attack. Digwa was found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years.
We often see false reports of prison attacks circulating online. It’s important to consider whether content you see on social media comes from a verifiable and trustworthy source. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the Ministry of Justice confirmed Vickrum Digwa has not been attacked in prison.