David Lammy says two more prisoners have been mistakenly released

David Lammy confirmed that two more prisoners had been released by mistake in the last three weeks.

Speaking on Sky News on Tuesday morning, the justice secretary confirmed two erroneous statements had been made since his statement in the House of Commons on 12 November.

Mr Lammy refused to go into details about the cases, saying public disclosure of key information could thwart police attempts to “catch him”.

It follows the release of a number of high-profile prisoners, including Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who was mistakenly released in October when he should have been taken to a detention centre. His 14-year-old victim said in a statement after the mistake that he was “very scared and very worried”.

Shortly afterwards an Algerian sex offender and a fraudster from HMP Wandsworth were also accidentally released, leaving the police’s efforts hanging in the balance.

According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Justice last month, a total of 91 prisoners were mistakenly released between April 1 and October 31 this year; This equates to approximately three inmates per week.

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