Woman falsely identified as officer in Nowak case 'scared for safety'

A former police officer wrongly identified as being at the scene of Henry Nowak's arrest and subsequent death has said she is scared for her safety and has been hiding in a safe house.

Christi Hill said she left Hampshire Constabulary in April 2024 - more than a year before Nowak was fatally stabbed in December 2025 - and told BBC Verify she was wrongly identified by social media users and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok, leading to "threats of violence".

Hill criticised Grok, which is part of Elon Musk's xAI group, for the "chaos" it caused by misidentifying her, and Hampshire police for not publicly confirming she was not involved.

Hampshire Constabulary and xAI have been approached for comment.

There has been widespread outrage after bodycam footage showed police officers putting 18-year-old university student Nowak in handcuffs as he lay dying, after his killer Vickrum Digwa claimed he had been the victim of a racial attack.

The footage showed the teenager repeatedly tell officers that he had been stabbed, with one replying: "I don't think so mate".

Digwa, 23, was jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years for murder.

BBC Verify has also obtained evidence that current police officer Tristan Parsons, who was also wrongly accused online of being involved, was not in the country at the time of Nowak's murder.

A jury inquest into Nowak's death next year will look at whether any "act or omission by a police officer" caused or contributed to his death in Southampton.

Musk has also been criticised by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer who accused him of trying to "whip up division" in the UK over Nowak's murder.

The billionaire X owner has posted numerous times on the platform about the police's response to the stabbing, criticising "how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments".

Sir Keir told reporters on Thursday: "We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division – that is not who we are in Britain...

"When we have a terrible case like Henry's case, Henry Nowak, we react calmly, as his family have done."

Hill said she first became aware of the false posts around 03:00 BST on Tuesday when she started receiving notifications.

"I just couldn't believe it, it was just picture after picture... after opening the messages and social media it was an onslaught from the beginning really," she said, speaking from an undisclosed location.

"I didn't really understand where this was coming from.

"There were loads of posts saying extreme violence should be given to all the officers that have been identified.

"There were people saying I didn't deserve to live, that I shouldn't be on the earth, [and] calling out to find my family. Yeah, outrageous really."

Criticising Grok, she said: "It would answer and confirm I was the arresting officer at an incident I simply couldn't have been [at], and this was fuelling the fire of the outrage online... it went nuclear."

It led to Hill releasing a statement out of frustration.

BBC News has also seen posts from Tuesday on X in which Grok wrongly identified Hill and Parsons as the officers involved in Nowak's arrest.

In later posts on Thursday, the AI chatbot said it had "incorrectly named" Hill and it had made a "mistake in visual identification".

Responding to the correction, Hill said: "I just don't think that's good enough for the chaos that it's caused, death threats, threats of violence, threats against the safety of multiple people that have been misidentified here."

Hill also said she was "really frustrated" with Hampshire police for not squashing the false claims and confirming she does not work for them anymore.

"Ultimately these photos have been gathered from a National Police Bravery Award nomination by Hampshire Constabulary, posted by Hampshire Constabulary on their socials years ago," she said.

"Apart from accepting the risk to relocate me for my safety which I'm grateful for, other than that there's been no effort to be very clear with communications... I feel completely let down by it and I know others probably do as well...

"It's a scary, lonely place to be."

The home secretary confirmed a male police officer wrongly identified as being involved in the case has received death threats and has also been re-located.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Shabana Mahmood said: "Misinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation even worse.

"We must all, together, condemn it, and we must also allow the facts to be established to the appropriate investigations and the courts, and we must do so calmly and responsibly."

Hill added: "They've [Henry Nowak's family] been through a horrendous time already, this didn't need to happen."

The murder of Nowak and the subsequent police response have prompted accusations of so-called two-tier policing by some.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Chief Constable Alexis Boon said he did not recognise this term, telling the BBC he saw officers "day in, day out" doing their job for all communities.

Digwa was given a life sentence for murder, with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Nowak with what he said was a ceremonial knife carried as part of his Sikh religion.

Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is expected to report on the case within the next three months.