Police hunt for two men mistakenly released from prison

Police are searching for two prisoners who were separately released in error from a London prison in the past week.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian man facing deportation from the UK, and convicted fraudster William Smith were let out of Wandsworth Prison on 29 October and 3 November respectively.

It comes just weeks after migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was also mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford in Essex.

It leaves Justice Secretary David Lammy under fire, after he had promised to put in place extra checks to prevent similar cases after Kebatu's release.

During Prime Minister's Questions, Lammy, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, was repeatedly asked whether any asylum-seeking offender had been accidentally let out of prison since Kebatu was released but he refused to answer.

As PMQs was ending, the Met Police released a statement revealing a foreign prisoner had been released by mistake last Wednesday, with the force informed on Tuesday.

The police later confirmed the man was 24-year-old Kaddour-Cherif and they believed he had links to Tower Hamlets and Westminster in London.

The BBC has been told he is not an asylum seeker and that Lammy was informed overnight about the accidental release.

Kaddour-Cherif is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visit visa in 2019 but overstayed his visa with a "probable over-stayer" case created in 2020.

At Prime Minister's Questions, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, deputising for Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, repeatedly asked the same question which Lammy did not answer and instead attacked the Conservative government's record in office on prisons.

Later, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "On entering the House [of Commons], facts were still emerging about the case and the deputy prime minister had not been accurately informed of key details including the offender's immigration status.

"The DPM waited until after PMQs and further facts had emerged before making a statement."

After the Met Police announced the mistaken release of Kaddour-Cherif, Lammy put out a statement in which he said he was "absolutely outraged and appalled".

"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."

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "It is shocking that once again the Labour government has mistakenly allowed a foreign criminal to be released from prison."

"This makes a mockery of Lammy's claims at PMQs to have introduced the 'strongest checks ever' on release."

The Liberal Democrats' justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller called for "a full explanation about how this has happened again".

Reform UK said it was "seriously concerned that the deputy prime minister inadvertently misled" the House of Commons.

Andrew Slaughter, Labour MP and chair of Parliament's Justice Committee, said the prison system had been "starved of investment" and faced "overcrowding and understaffing within a decaying prison estate characterised by chaos and instability".

Hours after the Met Police's announcement, Surrey Police said another man - William Smith - had also been released in error from Wandsworth Prison in the past week.

In a Facebook post, Surrey Police said Smith had been sentenced to 45 months for "multiple fraud offences" on Monday but had been released later the same day.

The BBC understands that Smith was mistakenly recorded as receiving a suspended sentence rather than a custodial one.

The error was corrected by the court but the amendment was sent to the wrong person.

Smith is described as white, bald and clean-shaven, police say, adding: "Smith was last seen wearing a navy long sleeve jumper with the Nike brand 'tick' across the front in white, navy blue tracksuit bottoms with a Nike 'tick' in white on the left pocket, and black trainers."

The police urged the public get in touch if they had any information.

Some 262 prisoners in England and Wales were mistakenly released in the year to March 2025, according to the latest figures, up 128% from 115 the previous year.

Staff at HMP Wandsworth told the BBC the prison has been in a state of panic after the accidental release.

Security has been a major concern at the prison for some time. An inspection report last year found chaos on the wings, with staff across most units unable to confirm where all their prisoners were during the working day.

In 2023 Daniel Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth while awaiting trial for spying for Iran.