The leader of the Conservatives has met with the family of Henry Nowak this morning. 

The 18-year-old student was murdered in December last year, and police officers’ initial decision to handcuff him as he lay dying – based on false information given to them by the murderer – has led to significant anger. 

Speaking about her meeting with the Nowak family, Kemi Badenoch said she spoke to the teenager’s mother, father and stepmother.

“Their courage is extraordinary,” she said. “They have endured the most appalling loss, it is a life sentence for them.”

The Essex MP also praised the family’s “agonising decision” to allow the release of the body-worn footage of their son’s last moments, which she said was done on Monday “because they want truth, accountability and change”.

The Essex teenager was murdered in Southampton, where he was a student, and on Tuesday, violent protests broke out in the city, injuring 11 police officers. 

Badenoch said: “Henry’s family do not want anger to tear communities apart. 

“They are a family who have friends across faith and race, and so did Henry. His family want his memory to help bring our society together.

“I promised the family that we will work to ensure there is a positive legacy for Henry out of this tragedy. That is my focus now.”

She added that the family have asked that “we work across political parties and religions to rebuild trust in the police”.

The Tory leader also used her meeting to call for an examination of whether exemptions on carrying knives, used by Nowak’s murderer to walk around with a Sikh ceremonial knife, are in fact “not conducive to the public good”.

“Everyone knows I have strong views about how we should deal with equality under the law,” she said. 

“What the family agreed with me on is that we need to bring common sense back, and that is what we should all be fighting for.”

Yesterday, Downing Street confirmed that Sir Keir Starmer has not yet met the Nowak family but said he would be “open to meeting… if requested”.

This morning, the PM called on politicians to “just listen again” to the family’s calls for Nowak’s death not to cause divisions.