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four more by mistake-Issued prisoners are widespread after Search The mistaken release of a sex offender has ended with his arrest.
Pressure on the government is increasing As reports have emerged the escaped prisoners are part of 262 prisoners in England and Wales who were mistakenly released in March 2025.
On Friday, 24-year-old Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was arrested after a nine-day-long investigation in Islington, north London, after he was spotted by a member of the public. SearchThe Algerian national – convicted of theft and previously convicted of indecent exposure – was serving a sentence HMP Wandsworth south-west London but was accidentally freed on 29 October.
Secretary of Justice David Lammy Admitted the prison system had a “mountain to climb” to deal with the crisis following the 24-year-old’s arrest. The wrongful release is one of several high-profile cases of criminals being wrongfully released. Another fraudster, Billy Smith, 35, handed himself in on Thursday.
And now, the BBC has reported that four other prisoners are still at large, in revelations that came just hours after Kaddour-Cherif’s arrest.
In response to the reports, a Justice Ministry spokesperson said Independent: “The majority of offenders released by mistake are returned to prison immediately, and we will do everything we can, together with the police, to catch the few still in the community. These cases further highlight the scale of the crisis in our prisons we have inherited. This will not be fixed overnight, but we are using every possible measure to reduce these errors.”
During his arrest, Kaddour-Chérif tried to claim he was someone else. The officer said: “We’re just going to do some more investigation because you look exactly like that guy. I’ve seen the photo, you have a very distinctive weird nose that looks just like that guy.”
Nadjib Mekdhia, also Algerian, claimed that he called the police after seeing Kaddour-Chérif and said he was “glad he is in jail”.
Mr Makedhia, 50, who is homeless and lives in the Finsbury Park area of north London, said he recognized the prisoner from a newspaper photograph.
Mr Lammy said: “I can confirm that Brahim Kaddour-Cherif has been recaptured and taken back into custody. My thanks go out to the police and staff at HMPPS who are working around the clock.
“We have inherited a prison system in crisis and I am amazed at the rate of erroneous releases that is leading to this problem. I am determined to overcome this problem, but there is a mountain to climb that cannot be done overnight.
“That’s why I’ve ordered new strict release checks, launched an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun reforming the outdated paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”
It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24. Strict security checks were carried out in prisons and an independent inquiry into the mistaken release was launched following the mistake in the Kebatu case.
An Epping migrant jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman was mistakenly released from jail instead of being sent to an immigration detention center last month, sparking a wave of protests. He was later traced.
Shortly before news of the latest incident broke, Mr Lammy was asked in the House of Commons whether any other asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu. The deputy prime minister, who also serves as justice secretary, refused to confirm the question when asked four times.
It is understood that Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker, but is in the process of being deported after his visa expired.
The latest blunders were blamed on him clerical errors In a system under “relentless stress”.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Times Radio: “The problem is that we have a broken system, and when you have a broken system you are going to have failings.
“The main thing is to ensure that we have a digital system so that no prisoner is released by mistake.
“There is no acceptable number for this, but the way to fix it is not to talk about David Lammy in the newspapers, but to do the work and investment that will digitalise the system.
“David already had the prison governors in his office yesterday, I think he was feeling very distressed given what was happening, but he was also making sure that he was getting all the support he needed to carry out the rigorous investigation that would be required to ensure that a recurrence of this is absolutely minimal.”
Chris Philip MP, shadow home secretary, said: “This case sums up the complete breakdown of law and order under Calamity Lammy. A foreign sex offender, who was due to be deported, is roaming the streets of London because Labor can’t even keep track of their prisoners. He should be deported immediately as soon as his sentence ends.
“The British public should not be the ones catching escaped criminals. This is lawlessness, incompetence and weakness from top to bottom, and it is putting people’s safety at risk.
“Labour doesn’t have the backbone to get a grip on law and order. Only the Conservative Party has the common sense, a rigorous plan to restore order, deploy 10,000 extra police officers to our streets and put fear back in the minds of criminals.”