Police manhunt after another foreign prisoner mistakenly released from jail

Police have launched a manhunt after prisoner Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly released from jail.

The 24-year-old Algerian man was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.

It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.

A spokesperson for the Met said: “Shortly after 13:00hrs on Tuesday, 4 November, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, 29 October.

“The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian man.

“Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody.”

According to Sky News, the prisoner was in jail for trespass with an intent to steal but has previously committed sexual offences.

It is understood he is not an asylum seeker.

Reacting to the incident Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was “absolutely outraged” and that his officials have been “working through the night to take him back to prison”.

The inmate’s mistaken release last Wednesday came just days after stronger security checks were put in place in prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error following the blunder in Kebatu’s case.

The Epping migrant jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, which sparked a wave of protests, was accidentally freed from prison instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre last month.

But of the latest foreign prisoner released in error, Mr Lammy faced questions about what he knew about the incident before refusing to answer questions on the issue at Prime Ministers’ Questions.

Shortly before the news broke, he had been asked in the House of Commons whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who also serves as Justice Secretary, refused to confirm four times.

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge asked: “I want to ask him a further very important question – can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?”

Mr Lammy refused to confirm – and lambasted the justice system the Government inherited from the Conservatives.

After repeating the question several times, Mr Cartlidge said in a point of order at the conclusion of PMQs: “The Telegraph are reporting that a police manhunt has been launched for a second asylum seeker mistakenly freed from prison.

“The question is, can (the Speaker) advise on how I can ask the Justice Secretary whether he was aware of this when I asked him about it repeatedly in Prime Minister’s question.”

It is understood Mr Lammy believed it would have been irresponsible to talk about the mistaken release of a second foreign prisoner while details were still emerging.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary found out about the error at HMP Wandsworth overnight.

But he declined to answer repeated questions at PMQs about whether any further migrants were released mistakenly because information was still emerging about the “complicated” case involving multiple agencies, sources said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Lammy said: “Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers.

“That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens, to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long.”

According to Government figures published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 – a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.

Reacting to the latest incident, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association Mark Fairhurst told the PA news agency he wants to get reassurances from leaders of the Prison Service that there are robust procedures in place to prevent this happening.

“This should not happen, end of,” he said.

“This is on the leaders of the service, not the staff on the front line, they just follow processes.”

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp also described the mistaken release as “shocking” and said it “makes a mockery” of Mr Lammy’s claim at PMQs to have introduced the “strongest ever checks” on releases.

In the fallout from Kebatu’s accidental release, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said that mistakes are happening “all the time” and are symptomatic of the chaos within the system.

Published: 05/11/2025 by Radio NewsHub