A former police officer has been forced into hiding after being falsely accused of involvement in the death of Henry Nowak, who was fatally stabbed in December 2025. Christi Hill, who served as a police officer in Portsmouth for 12 years before leaving the force in April 2024, has denied any connection to the incident and condemned the spread of misinformation on social media and artificial intelligence platforms.

Hill and another officer have been incorrectly identified online as the “primary officers shown” in bodycam footage released by Hampshire police related to Nowak’s arrest. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, confirmed on Tuesday that the other officer named in the false reports had been forced to move out of his home due to safety concerns stemming from the misinformation.

The AI platform Grok, owned by Elon Musk, has been implicated in disseminating the false claims. Musk himself has taken a public interest in the case, tweeting during the trial of Henry Nowak’s attacker, Vickrum Digwa, that he intended to finance a private prosecution against the officers involved in the arrest. However, Hill pointed out that she left the police force more than a year before Nowak’s death, making her involvement impossible.

In a statement, Hill expressed deep concern over the rapid spread of outdated and inaccurate information. She identified the source of the confusion as a national police bravery award media release featuring a photograph of herself and a former colleague, which has been misattributed to the Nowak case. “It is alarming to see how quickly a piece of outdated media can be weaponised by algorithms and accepted as fact by AI platforms, despite being factually impossible,” Hill said.

She also emphasized her sympathy for the Nowak family, stating that they “deserve justice and clarity, not the noise of online misinformation.” The case has raised broader questions about the role of emerging technologies in amplifying false narratives and the challenges faced by individuals wrongly implicated in high-profile incidents.

Authorities have not commented further on the impact of the misinformation or measures being taken to address the situation. Meanwhile, Hill and the other wrongly accused officer remain in protective circumstances as the case continues to unfold.