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Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, sex offender, has been released from HMP Wandsworth by mistake Police arrested in London.
24 year old man was serving sentence HMP Wandsworth Sources said he was charged with trespassing with intent to steal in south-west London, but had previously been convicted of indecent exposure.
He was released from jail on October 29 last year, where special measures were taken, but the mistake was reported only to the police. Metropolitan On Tuesday, the police, the force said.
The Algerian national was arrested more than a week after he was spotted by a member of the public in Islington, north London.
metropolitan police An update on social media said: “Officers have arrested Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on October 29.
“Cheriff was seen by a member of the public in Blackstock Road, Islington, just before 11.30am. Officers immediately responded and he was arrested.”
During his arrest Kaddour-Chérif tried to claim he was someone else, to which the police officer responded that he had a “very distinctive bizarre nose”, which matched images of the prisoner he had mistakenly released.
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”.
The 50-year-old man, who is homeless but lives in the Finsbury Park area of north London, said he recognized the prisoner from a newspaper photograph.
The Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, said: “I can confirm that Brahim Kadour-Cherif has been recaptured and taken back into custody. My thanks go to the police and staff at HMPPS who are working around the clock.
“We inherited a troubled prison system and I am amazed at the rate of erroneous releases that is leading to this problem. I am committed to overcoming 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new strict release checks, launched an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun reforming the outdated paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”
Another prisoner, 35-year-old Billy Smith, was also released from HMP Wandsworth by mistake, handing himself in on Thursday, three days after his release.
The criminal, who was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences, was filmed embracing his partner and enjoying a cigarette on the prison stairs before surrendering.
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 investigation into the mistaken release was launched after the mistake in Kebatu’s case – more prisoners were released by mistake just days earlier.
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 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.”