Lammy under pressure after two prisoners released by mistake

"Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, had promised to introduce the "strongest checks ever" to prevent further errors after the accidental release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from Chelmsford prison in Essex last month. But on Wednesday it emerged two more men - including an Algerian sex offender - had been mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison over the past week."

"A police manhunt in continuing for 24-year-old Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a registered sex offender who was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024. He is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visitor's visa in 2019 but overstayed and was in the initial stages of a deportation process. Kaddour-Cherif was released by mistake from HMP Wandsworth on 29 October but police were only told on Tuesday."

"During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Lammy, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, was repeatedly asked by the Conservatives whether any asylum-seeking offender had been accidentally let out of prison since Kebatu was released but he avoided answering directly. As PMQs was ending the Met Police released a statement revealing a foreign prisoner - later named as Kaddour-Cherif - had been released by mistake last week, with the force"

Justice Secretary and deputy prime minister David Lammy pledged the strongest checks after the accidental release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from Chelmsford prison. Two further mistaken releases were reported from HMP Wandsworth over the same week, including Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a registered sex offender facing deportation after overstaying a visitor visa. Kaddour-Cherif was released on 29 October and police were informed days later, triggering a manhunt. A separate court clerical error led to the release of William Smith after a fraud sentence. Conservatives criticised operational failures and delays in notifying police.

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