Christi Hill: Ex-Portsmouth police officer wrongly accused of arresting murdered Henry Nowak says her life has been “turned upside down”
The former officer has criticised the “gutless” police force
A former Portsmouth police officer wrongly accused of being one of the arresting officers during the murder of Henry Nowak told The News she remains in hiding with her life “turned upside down”.
Christi Hill was thrown into the eye of a storm when her name and picture were falsely circulated online accusing her of being a “murderer”. She has now criticised Hampshire Constabulary for failing to publicly clear her name, branding them “gutless”, though the force has confirmed the misidentification of unrelated officers to the case.
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The former police constable, who left the force in April 2024, has been falsely accused of being at the scene where the fatally injured Mr Nowak was handcuffed after being stabbed in Southampton on December 3 by murderer Vickrum Digwa.
Ms Hill has been subjected to threats and abuse alongside former PCSO Tristan Parsons, who has also been wrongly accused, since Tuesday morning after police released the body-worn footage of the incident. Digwa was jailed for murder on Monday for 21 years.
The former officer was contacted by Hampshire Constabulary amid spiralling threats on Tuesday morning and has been relocated to a safe space - with her having no idea when she will be allowed home. “I’m still in my relocated place and with there so much going on it’s not safe for me to go back. It’s too much of a risk,” she told The News.
“(Hampshire police) made me aware on Tuesday mid-morning and said they were treating me as a victim due to what was being said online and with the risk involved they accepted it was enough to relocate me. I’m grateful they did that but that is where the support ended.”
She went on to say it is “infuriating and gutless” of the force for failing to publicly declare she was not at the murder arrest scene of Mr Nowak.
“My life has been turned upside down. My day-to-day work has been affected. It’s not been good at all. I’m in complete limbo”, she said.
“I have to be clear, though, this is nothing in comparison to what the Nowak family are going through. It was a tragedy and the family don’t need all this extra noise on top of what’s happened. It’s disgusting.
“The dad spoke on the steps of the court (about not wanting to create tensions) but instead of listening to him some people have gone the other way.”
Referring to the police she said: “It’s infuriating and gutless they won’t go on the record and quash the misinformation and do the right thing. It’s different for me (compared to other officers) as I’m no longer in the force. The damage to my reputation going forward is damning.
“They were really happy to use my bravery award picture but are now not happy to clear my name. It doesn’t sit right with me.
“The force always spoke about ‘honesty and transparency’ when I was an officer but I do not feel that now. If there is a lesson to be learned it is for the truth to be told. They have failed this time but they could just come out and prove the negatives. I’m dumbfounded and exhausted but I will keep pushing.”
In her last update from the force on Wednesday morning she was told there had been a report into the impact on her life but they could not offer any further help. Meanwhile, the Police Federation had been “good”, she said.
Speaking of the “onslaught online” Ms Hill said she had been called a “murderer” and a “predator” and has been told she “deserves violence”.
But the former PC says the “tide has turned” with the vitriol calming in the last day since the article in The News which had it reliably confirmed she and PC Parsons had been wrongly accused - but revealed there is “still a lot online”. She said: “There’s been comments saying it ‘still sounds like the same person in the video’ or it’s ‘clearly her’. I’ve stopped reading them now.
“If people are gullible enough to believe the misinformation then what more can I do?”
The ex-officer, who served in the Portsmouth area for 11 years before her career change, also called for change with AI after she was wrongly identified on Grok, owned by X, which wrote in answer to a user’s question: “Public reports and identifications in the Henry Nowak bodycam footage name PC Christi Hill and PC Tristan Parsons as the primary officers shown.”
Ms Hill said of the platform: “People are using it to fact check so you can’t blame them. My frustration comes from the tool that should be a trusted source rather than adding fuel to the fire and putting people’s safety at risk. It’s horrendous.
“It should not be allowed to weaponise false information. There need to be better guard rails put in place to stop false information being circulated with certainty.”
A Hampshire police spokesperson previously said: “We know there has been significant commentary following the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa and we recognise the desire for answers about the police response that night.
“However, what we cannot accept is the significant spread of misinformation online by those intent on causing further fear and division by making threats to officers and sharing names that are simply not true.
“A police officer unrelated to this case has been misidentified online and subject to death threats.
“The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is continuing its independent investigation into our response on the night in question, following our self-referral the next day. While that progresses, we ask that people avoid harmful speculation online.”