Wandsworth prison manhunt latest: Lammy was ‘not accurately informed’ about mistakenly released inmate before PMQs

The father of the 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by Hadush Kebatu in Essex says the government has “relentlessly” failed his family and that they received “no justice”:

The girl’s father, speaking anonymously to protect his daughter’s identity, said the government’s handling of the incident has been “breaking us as a family”:

The Metropolitan Police on Wednesday appealed for public support in helping to catch Brahim Kaddour-Cherif.

They requested anyone who does see him avoids approaching him and calls 999.

Anyone who has other information about his movements should call 101.

Commander Paul Trevers, who is overseeing the investigation, said: “Cherif has had a six-day head start but we are working urgently to close the gap and establish his whereabouts.

“We will continue to use all the means at our disposal but we are also appealing for the public’s help to find him. We have seen in the very recent past how important alert members of the public reporting sightings can be.”

The Metropolitan Police on Wednesday identified Brahim Kaddour Cherif as the 24-year-old Algerian national who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth last week.

They said in a statement in the afternoon that Scotland Yard had been informed shortly after 1pm on Tuesday of his release.

“We can confirm that the released prisoner is 24-year-old Brahim Kaddour Cherif who is an Algerian national. He is also known to use other variations of his name, including Ibrahim,” their statement read.

“He is believed to have links to Tower Hamlets and is also known to frequent the Westminster area.

“We are aware of reporting that Cherif is a registered sex offender and can confirm that is accurate.”

The Met said he was convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure relating to an incident in March that year.

He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

The government has faced increased scrutiny since the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu last month.

Today, Tory MP James Cartlidge pressed deputy prime minister David Lammy on when any asylum seeker prisoners had been recently released in error.

Lammy did not answer the question, and said new checks have been brought in and an investigation launched to avoid further mistakes.

It then emerged that Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been released from HMP Wandsworth by mistake last week. The error was only reported to Met Police on Tuesday. Cherif is not an asylum seeker.

He had been arrested on 9 September for failing to appear at court, failing to comply with probation conditions, and for breaching the conditions he was subject to due to being on the sex offenders’ register.

Surrey Police then announced that they were appealing for help finding William ‘Billy’ Smith, who was also released from HMP Wandsworth by mistake on Monday.

A former prison governor said David Lammy needs to “get a grip” as “absolutely nothing is working in prison and probation”.

John Podmore, who once ran HMP Brixton and Belmarsh, told LBC that while the justice minister may have “inherited a broken system”, the government has since “done nothing other than continue to promote from within the people responsible for that broken system”.

He said the handling of the comments at PMQs on Wednesday was “embarassing”.

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The Ministry of Justice defended David Lammy’s reluctance to comment on mistakenly released prisoners on Wednesday, saying that the deputy prime minister had waited until further facts emerged after Prime Minister’s Questions before making a statement.

A spokesperson for the ministry said: “The crisis in the prison system this government inherited is such that basic information about individual cases can take unacceptably long to reach Ministers.

“On entering the House, 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. No media story about the individual case was yet in the public domain and it was and remains subject to a live police investigation.

“The [deputy prime minister] was asked questions about the release of an asylum seeker. As was confirmed after PMQs by the Home Office, the individual was not an asylum seeker.

“The [deputy prime minister] waited until after PMQs and further facts had emerged before making a statement.”

Andy Slaughter, a Labour MP and Chair of the Justice Committee, acknowledged that the reports on missing prisoners released in error are “extremely concerning, especially following the high-profile release [of Hadush Kebatu] from HMP Chelmsford last month”.

“Events such as this speak to a wider justice system at breaking point,” he told the BBC, adding that: “The current spate of releases in error will be repeated until the underlying failures are addressed”.