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

The Metropolitan Police appealed for public support to help capture Brahim Kaddour-Cherif on Wednesday.

They asked anyone who sees him to avoid approaching him and call 999.

Anyone with further information about his movements should call 101.

Commander Paul Trevers, who is overseeing the investigation, said: “Cherif has 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 tools at our disposal, but we are also appealing for the public’s help in finding him. We have seen in the recent past how important alert members notifying the public of sightings can be.”

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

In a statement this afternoon, they said Scotland Yard was notified of his release shortly after 1pm on Tuesday.

“We can confirm that the released prisoner is 24-year-old Brahim Kaddour Cherif, an Algerian citizen. It is also known that he uses other versions of his name, including Ibrahim,” the statement said.

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

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

In November 2024 he was found guilty of indecent exposure relating to an incident in March that year, the Met said.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

The government has faced increased scrutiny since Hadush Kebatu’s mistaken release last month.

Today, Conservative MP James Cartlidge pressed deputy prime minister David Lammy on whether asylum-seeking prisoners had been released by mistake recently.

Lammy, who did not answer the question, said that new checks were brought and an investigation was launched to prevent further mistakes.

It later emerged that Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth last week. The error was reported only to: I Met the Police on Tuesday. Cherif is not a refugee.

He was arrested on September 9 for failing to appear in court, failing to comply with the conditions of his probation and violating the conditions he was subject to by being on the sex offender registry.

Surrey Police later announced they had appealed for help finding William ‘Billy’ Smith, who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on Monday.

A former prison warden said David Lammy needed to be “contained”, stating that “absolutely nothing is going right in prison and on parole”.

John Podmore, who once ran HMP Brixton and Belmarsh, 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”.

He said the handling of the comments at Wednesday’s PMQs was “disgraceful”.

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

A Department spokesman said: “The crisis in the prison system inherited by this government means that key information about individual cases can take unacceptably long to reach Ministers.

“When we entered the parliament, the facts about the case were still emerging and [deputy prime minister] was not properly informed of important details, including the offender’s immigration status. No media reports regarding the individual case have yet been made public and it has been and remains the subject of a live police investigation.

“ [deputy prime minister] Questions were asked about the release of an asylum seeker. This person was not an asylum seeker, as confirmed by the Home Office following PMQs.

“ [deputy prime minister] “I waited until the PMQs and other facts came out before making a statement.”

Labor MP and Justice Committee Chairman Andy Slaughter agreed that reports of missing prisoners mistakenly released were “extremely concerning, especially following high-profile releases”. [of Hadush Kebatu] from HMP Chelmsford last month”.

“Incidents like this point to a wider justice system at breaking point,” he told the BBC, adding: “Current inaccurate coverage will be repeated until the underlying errors are corrected.”

William Smith, 35, was released from HMP Wandsworth due to a clerical error, the BBC reported.

It was said that the detention sentence was filed on the computer as a suspended sentence.

The error was flagged and modified by the court; but the correction was sent to the wrong person.