Everything we know about the prisoners mistakenly released from Wandsworth Prison
A convicted fraudster who was wrongly released handed himself back to prison on Thursday after spending three days at large after being bungled at HMP Wandsworth last Friday.
Police continue to search for an immigrant sex offender who has been released from prison in south-west London.
The scandal emerged less than two weeks after Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released from prison in October when he was due to be transferred to an immigration detention centre.
How and when were two prisoners released from Wandsworth Prison?
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was released from prison on October 29 and has been at large for over a week; The Met Police were only notified of the incident six days later on Tuesday.
William ‘Billy’ Smith, who surrendered, was also released by mistake on Monday. Accordingly BBCSmith was released due to a clerical error and was told the prison sentence was filed on the computer as a suspended sentence.
After the error was flagged and corrected by the court, the correction was sent to the wrong person.
Justice secretary Alex Davies-Jones claimed the “legacy” paper-based system was partly to blame, stating that technologists had been deployed to help staff “because they are working with tons of paper in the 21st century, which is completely unacceptable.”
Why were the detainees sent to prison?
Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian citizen, was serving a sentence for trespassing with intent to steal. He is a registered sex offender and has a previous conviction for indecent exposure. He was in the process of being deported because his visa had expired.
Smith, 35, was back in prison after being sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple fraud charges on the same day he was accidentally released.
When did Billy Smith return?
Smith returned to prison Thursday, three days after he was wrongfully released. According to ITV, which filmed the moment he surrendered, Smith was accompanied by his partner, who hugged him at the entrance to the prison before speaking to prison staff. In the video, he can be seen smiling for the cameras and smoking a cigarette outside the prison.
Surrey Police said: “We are canceling our appeal to help locate wanted 35-year-old William Smith, who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on Monday 3 November.
“Smith handed himself into HMP Wandsworth today.”
How often are prisoners released by accident?
A total of 262 people have been released from prisons in England and Wales by March 2025, according to official figures.
The Prison Governors Association said wrongful releases were “neither rare nor secret” but the extent of them was “extremely worrying”.
Less than two weeks ago, the accidental release of an asylum seeker sparked a three-day manhunt in London. Epping immigrant Hadush Kebatu, who sexually assaulted a woman and a 14-year-old girl, was supposed to be sent to an immigration detention center for deportation but was mistakenly released.
After his release, justice minister Lammy said he had “imposed the toughest controls we have ever had in the prison system”.
Who is responsible for the accidental release of prisoners?
The mistake caused great embarrassment for Mr Lammy and the government, who were called in to answer questions about the circumstances of the incident.
Following Kebatu’s release, which was deemed “human error”, a prison staff member was suspended from HMP Chelmsford and an independent investigation was launched.
Although Sir Keir Starmer has said the circumstances will be examined “forensically”, it is still unclear what measures have been and will be taken.
Prison chiefs have been called in for crisis talks and a team of digital experts has been tasked with overhauling the “archaic” paper-based prisoner registration system.
What was the reaction of politicians and prison administrators?
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said Lammy’s response to questions during Prime Minister’s Questions about whether other asylum seekers had been accidentally released from prison was “a disgrace”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Robert Jenrick said: “The second convicted sex offender in two weeks has been accidentally released from one of our illegal immigration prisons, despite the Justice Secretary coming to Parliament after the first incident and saying he had put in place the most robust controls to ensure this never happens again.”
Former prison warden John Podmore also condemned Mr Lammy, who he said should be “bred under control”.
Mr Podmore said LBC The justice minister said that although he had “inherited a broken system”, the government had since “done nothing but continue to support from within the people responsible for this broken system”.
The justice minister said he was “outraged” by the situation and said: Times Radio The government was taking action.
Ms Davies-Jones said: “Unfortunately this will not be solved overnight, I don’t have a magic wand but we are making plans to really solve the problems.”
