David Lammy, the UK justice secretary, is under mounting pressure after two more prisoners, including a convicted foreign sex offender, were mistakenly freed from Wandsworth prison, days after he introduced stringent checks for jails. Lammy had refused multiple times to say whether any more prisoners had been released in error in a bruising session of prime minister’s questions (PMQs), having been ambushed with a string of pre-planned questions on the issue.
On Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Justice said Lammy had not been “accurately informed of key details” when he was asked about missing prisoners. Almost immediately after the exchange at PMQs it was revealed that Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian who had overstayed his visa, had been wrongly released from Wandsworth prison last Wednesday, with the Metropolitan police informed only on Tuesday. The same prison also accidentally freed the fraudster William Smith, 35, who was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences on Monday and freed in error the same day.
The latest errors come just days after Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was accidentally freed from Chelmsford prison despite convictions for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman days after arriving in the UK in a small boat. Lammy had ordered five pages of new checks for prison governors after the release of Kebatu, who was supposed to have been removed to an immigration detention centre. He was arrested in north London and deported after being given a £500 discretionary payment.
The Guardian understands that Kaddour-Cherif was in prison for trespass with intent to steal but was convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure linked to an incident in March of the same year. He was sentenced to an 18-month community order. Cherif is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visitors’ visa in 2019 but overstayed. An “automatic probable overstayer” case was created by the Home Office in February 2020 and he is, sources say, in the initial stages of the deportation process. Questions will be raised as to why he was not removed from the UK five years ago.
The Met was informed of Kaddour-Cherif’s release shortly after 1pm on Tuesday, giving him a six-day head start. He has links to the Tower Hamlets area, but is also known to frequent the Westminster area. Surrey police, meanwhile, put out an appeal to find Smith. He had appeared in Croydon crown court via a live video link from HMP Wandsworth, before being released in error. The Prison Service is examining the possibility that officers did not have a warrant to hold the men in custody.
Downing Street said Kaddour-Cherif was “a concerning case”, with Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson adding: “It’s unacceptable, and the circumstances behind it will be forensically looked at … One mistaken release is too many, as we saw in the Kebatu case. That is why we’ve ordered the review led by Lynne Owens. I think it’s fair to assume that this case will form part of that review.” The Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, whose constituency includes Wandsworth prison, said after hearing of Kaddour-Cherif’s release: “I’m horrified to learn that someone was mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison. Local residents will quite rightly be deeply concerned. We urgently need answers from the government and Ministry of Justice as to how this was allowed to happen.”
