Police Intensive Manhunt for Mistakenly Released Prisoners
The Metropolitan Police are actively searching for two individuals inadvertently released from Wandsworth Prison in the past week. On 29 October, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian sex offender, was mistakenly freed, followed by 35-year-old convicted fraudster William Smith on 3 November.
This incident closely follows the erroneous release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford in Essex, amplifying criticism towards Justice Secretary David Lammy, who had committed to tightening checks post-Kebatu’s release.
Questions were raised during Prime Minister’s Questions when Lammy, substituting for Sir Keir Starmer, declined to confirm whether any asylum-seeking offenders had been mistakenly released since the Kebatu incident. Just as the session concluded, the Met Police confirmed Kaddour-Cherif’s mistaken release on Wednesday, later identifying his connections to Tower Hamlets and Westminster in London. The force disclosed that Kaddour-Cherif was convicted in November 2024 for indecent exposure stemming from a March incident that same year. He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
BBC reports indicate Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker but entered the UK legally on a visitor visa in 2019, which he overstayed. It was revealed that Lammy was only informed overnight of the mistake. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, covering for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, persistently questioned Lammy, who instead redirected focus to the Conservative government’s prison management. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson commented, "On entering the House of Commons, facts were still emerging, and the deputy prime minister lacked accurate information regarding the offender’s immigration status."
In response to the incident, Lammy expressed his outrage, stating, "Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. "This is why I've implemented stringent checks to address such failures and ordered an independent inquiry led by Dame Lynne Owens." Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticized the occurrence, accusing Labour of ineffectiveness in prison management, while Liberal Democrats and Reform UK called for clarity and accountability regarding the repeated errors. Andrew Slaughter, chair of Parliament's Justice Committee, attributed the issues to systemic underfunding, overcrowding, and staffing shortages.