Sex offender mistakenly let out of prison rearrested after being spotted by member of public

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, the sex offender accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth, has been arrested by police in London.

The 24-year-old was serving a sentence at HMP Wandsworth in south-west London for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously also been convicted for indecent exposure, sources said.

He was freed from the jail, which was put into special measures last year, on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.

The Algerian national was arrested after he was spotted by a member of the public in Islington, north London.

The Metropolitan Police said in an update on social media: “Officers have arrested Brahim Kaddour-Cherif who was released in error from HMP Wandsworth on October 29.

“Cherif was spotted by a member of the public in Blackhorse Lane, Islington just before 11.30am. Officers responded immediately and he was arrested.”

Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy said: “I can confirm Brahim Kaddour-Cherif has been recaptured and is back in custody. My thanks are with the police and staff at HMPPS who have been working around the clock.

“We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing.I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.

“That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”

Another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, was also mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth handed himself in on Thursday three days after his release.

The criminal, who had been sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences, was filmed hugging his partner and enjoying a cigarette on the jail steps before turning himself in.

It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24. Stronger security checks were put in place in prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error following the blunder in Kebatu’s case – just days before more prisoners were mistakenly released.

The Epping migrant jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, which sparked a wave of protests, was accidentally freed from prison instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre last month. He was later traced.

Shortly before news of the latest incident broke, Mr Lammy had been asked in the House of Commons whether any more 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 Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker, but is in the process of being deported after he overstayed his visa.

The latest blunders were blamed on clerical errors in a system under “relentless strain”.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Times Radio: “The problem is we’ve got a broken system, and you are going to see failings when you have a broken system.

“The key is to make sure we have a digital system so that no prisoner is ever released by mistake.

“There is not an acceptable number for this, but the way to fix it is not tittle tattle about David Lammy in the newspapers, it’s to get on and do the work and put in the investment that will digitise the system.

“David has already had the prison governors in his office yesterday, I imagine they felt pretty hauled over the coals given what’s been going on, but he was also making sure that they’re getting all the support they need to carry out the much tougher checks that will be required to make sure that the repeats of this are at an absolute minimum.”