Brahim Kaddour-Cherif: Police launch manhunt after second foreign prisoner mistakenly released from jail
Police have launched a manhunt after another foreign prisoner was mistakenly released from jail, with Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy saying he is “absolutely outraged”.
The 24-year-old Algerian sex offender was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously also been convicted for indecent exposure, sources said.
It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24, after being jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Epping.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Justice Secretary Mr Lammy, who was deputising while Sir Keir Starmer is at Cop30 in Brazil, refused to say on five occasions as to whether any more asylum seekers had been accidentally released.
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, stepping in for Kemi Badenoch, asked: “I want to ask him a further very important question – can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?”
Mr Lammy, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, refused to confirm – and lambasted the justice system the Government inherited from the Conservatives.
He replied: “Let me just remind him that he was a justice minister that allowed our prisons to get to this state in the first place and it’s now for us to fix the mess that we’ve got into.
“It’s important that Dame Lynne Owens can now continue her work and understand what is happening. He knows that early releases begun under their watch in 2021.”
Mr Cartlidge then repeated his question. He said: “He’s the Justice Secretary. He’s responsible for the justice system. He needs to take responsibility.
“And I’m going to repeat it once more for the avoidance of doubt, because he did not answer it twice.
“Can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum-seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?” Mr Lammy told him to “get a grip”.
Following PMQs, Mr Lammy revealed that he found out about the wrongful release overnight.
He believed it would have been irresponsible to talk about the mistaken release of a second foreign prisoner while details were still emerging, it is understood.
The Ministry of Justice said the Algerian man is not an asylum seeker, and said Mr Lammy had not responded at PMQs because information was still emerging about the “complicated” case involving multiple agencies.
The Justice Secretary said he is “absolutely outraged”, adding: “The Metropolitan Police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison.
“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.”
Scotland Yard said: “Shortly after 1pm on Tuesday, 4 November, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, 29 October. The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian man.
“Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody.”
According to Sky News, the prisoner was in jail for trespass with an intent to steal but has previously committed sexual offences.
Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also described the mistaken release as “shocking” and said it “makes a mockery” of Mr Lammy’s claim at PMQs to have introduced the “strongest ever checks” on releases.
In the fallout from Kebatu’s accidental release, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said that mistakes are happening “all the time” and are symptomatic of the chaos within the system.