Sex Offender Apprehended Following Major Police Search
Police have successfully located and returned Brahim Kaddour-Cherif to HMP Wandsworth, ending a nearly week-long period where the convicted sex offender was unlawfully at large. The 24-year-old Algerian national was taken back into custody after being arrested in Finsbury Park, north London, according to Sky News reports.
System Failure Led to Dangerous Release
The alarming sequence of events began on October 29 when prison officials at the high-security facility erroneously released Kaddour-Cherif. The mistake occurred when his custodial sentence for possessing a knife was incorrectly recorded as a suspended sentence on the prison's computer system.
Adding to the seriousness of the error, Kaddour-Cherif is a registered sex offender who received a community order for indecent exposure in November 2024. This previous conviction had placed him on the sex offenders' registry for five years.
Critical Delay in Reporting Escape
Despite being released on October 29, the London Metropolitan Police were not informed about the dangerous error until November 4, meaning Kaddour-Cherif had been free for almost a week before authorities even began searching for him.
Once notified, police launched an intensive two-day manhunt across the capital. Officers had indicated they believed the fugitive had connections to the borough of Tower Hamlets and had spent time in the Westminster area during his time on the run.
Kaddour-Cherif's return to custody follows that of William "Billy" Smith, a convicted fraudster who was mistakenly released on the same day and handed himself in to Wandsworth earlier this morning. The consecutive errors have raised serious questions about procedures at the prison.
