Justice secretary David Lammy has revealed that a further 12 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error since November, with two still at large. The latest figures come after Lammy told the House of Commons in mid-November that there had been 91 accidental releases between 1 April and 31 October this year.
Lammy said on Tuesday: 'Well, I said to parliament a few weeks ago, I released data at that point, and there had been 91 releases in error up to that point, there have been 12 since then, two are currently at large.' He reassured the public that the two still at large are not violent or sexual offenders.
Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain, Lammy declined to provide further details, citing operational decisions by the police. 'I'm not going to give details of those cases, because these are operational decisions made by the police, and you'll understand if they're about to arrest somebody they don't want me to blow the cover,' he said.
The justice secretary noted that the overall trend is downwards following improvements to the system. However, the issue has drawn criticism after high-profile cases, including the mistaken release of Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif and fraudster Billy Smith from HMP Wandsworth, and Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford, who was convicted of sexual assault.
Lammy confirmed that the error leading to Kaddour-Cherif's release occurred in September, before tougher security checks were introduced. He faced criticism for repeatedly refusing to confirm whether any more asylum seekers had been released in error since Kebatu.
