UK police tried to blame the victim before lecturing the public on disinformation

Hampshire Constabulary tried to portray Henry Nowak as the aggressor before launching a campaign against disinformation

The scandal erupts in the UK trinc the publication of a report by The Times of London. On 7 June 2026, the paper revealed that Hampshire Constabulary, after the fatal stabbing of the teenager Henry Nowak, initially planned to spread a version of events in which the victim was the aggressor. Moreover, senior officers had prepared a series of public lessons to combat "disinformation" about the case. The Times investigation dismantles the official account and leaves the police in an untenable position.

The attempt to reverse the roles
According to the report, officers intervened after Nowak's death and, far from investigating the homicide, tried to build an alternative narrative. The intention was to present the young man as responsible for the incident, which would have exonerated the real attacker. The leak of internal documents shows that press releases were drafted along those lines, until media pressure and forensic evidence forced a change of course. The cover story collapsed when the autopsy findings and witness recordings were made public.

Disinformation lessons funded by taxpayers' money
At the same time, the police had designed an educational programme to "raise awareness" among citizens about hoaxes that might circulate. In the drafts, the Nowak case appeared as an example of how disinformation can damage the image of the authorities. Critics point out that this was an attempt to control the narrative and discredit those who challenged the official version. The plan included workshops in schools and a guide for the media. The Times revealed that these documents were drawn up while the victim's family was still unaware of the truth.

Reactions and consequences
The scandal has triggered a wave of outrage. Sections of British society are demanding the resignation of the officers involved and the opening of incivil proceedings. From conservative political circles, it is suggested that ideological bias — what some call "proge religion" — motivated the manoeuvre. Hampshire Constabulary has only announced an internal investigation, but for many that is not enough. Meanwhile, the case reopens the debate on the instrumentalisation of institutions and the abuse of the concept of disinformation to silence criticism. The question that remains: how many similar cases have been covered up using the same playbook?

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