A 24-year-old Algerian man is being hunted by police after being mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth prison in South-West London on October 29. The Metropolitan Police were only informed of the error on November 4, nearly a week after the release.
The prisoner was serving time for trespass with intent to steal and has previous convictions for sexual offences. The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: «Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody.»
The mistaken release occurred just five days after another foreign prisoner, migrant Hadush Kebatu, was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford. That incident had already prompted strengthened security checks and an independent investigation into prison release procedures.
Political Pressure Mounts
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy faced intense questioning during Prime Minister's Questions about whether further prisoners had been released in error. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge asked repeatedly: «Can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?»
Lammy declined to answer multiple times, despite knowing about the Wandsworth release overnight. The Conservative Party learned of the error 15-20 minutes before the parliamentary session began. A spokesman for Kemi Badenoch said: «If we knew, one can only assume the Justice Secretary knew.»
Lammy said in a statement Wednesday he was «absolutely outraged and appalled» by the release. He confirmed officials were «working through the night to take him back to prison» and announced: «That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens, to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long.»
The number of prisoners released in error has more than doubled, from 115 in the year to March 2024 to 262 in the following year. Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman called the latest incident «utterly unacceptable» and said «one mistaken release is one too many».
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
