A man jailed over the abduction of his five-year-old son may have left the UK in the three days it took prison staff to notify police that he had been mistakenly released from custody, the High Court has been told.
Ifedayo Adeyeye was released from HMP Pentonville in London on April 21, having been jailed for contempt of court over the abduction of Laurys N’Djosse Adeyeye.
Prison staff allowed the 58-year-old’s release despite him being ordered to serve a 12-month sentence the day before, and being due to be extradited to France upon its completion.
Mr Justice Hayden said at a hearing on Monday that following his release, Adeyeye “strolled about” the London area and “had a very nice dinner (and) had quite a lot of drink” at a local pub, before transferring thousands of pounds to others from a bank account.
It is believed that he may have travelled to Spain the following day, all before prison staff contacted the Metropolitan Police in the afternoon of April 24.
Mr Justice Hayden said: “If the police had been contacted immediately, this could perhaps, almost certainly perhaps, have been prevented.
“The public is entitled to expect far better than this.”
Last June, the same judge ruled that Adeyeye, a dual British-Nigerian national, abducted Laurys from his mother, Claire N’Djosse, in France and took him to the African country via the UK.
The judge said Laurys was born in France and had lived with Ms N’Djosse since birth, adding that the day of the abduction, July 27 2024, was the first time that Laurys was staying overnight with his father.
Ms N’Djosse has not seen her son since and has been trying to secure his return through the English courts, with Mr Justice Hayden ruling in a legal first that the High Court had the power to order that Adeyeye return Laurys to his mother, even though the boy did not live in the UK.
After he failed to do so, Adeyeye was arrested upon his return to the UK and was jailed for six months in January for contempt of court.
The day before he was due to be released, Adeyeye was jailed for a further 12 months on April 20 for further contempt of court offences, before his mistaken release the following day.
The blunder became public knowledge earlier this month after Mr Justice Hayden allowed reporting of the issue at a hearing on May 1, during which he said the state has “failed” and that there was an “alarming lack of urgency” from prison staff.
On Monday, the judge said that the abduction was “an act of cruelty that even this court rarely sees” and described Adeyeye as “arrogant and manipulative”, and “cold and calculated”.
Police told the court that Adeyeye “may have entered Spain” on April 22 and that authorities in the country had been notified, adding: “The Metropolitan Police recognises both the seriousness of this matter and how traumatic the present situation must be for both (Ms N’Djosse) and her son.”
They added: “We are using the powers at our disposal to pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry to locate and arrest (Adeyeye), and will continue to do so diligently and expeditiously.”
Police said that the prison service told them that Adeyeye was released due to a “communication failure” with the court, which Mr Justice Hayden described as “an entirely groundless suggestion”.
Chris Bryden, for Ms N’Djosse, said: “Not only has the state failed her by the release of the father, but the state has failed her by not informing the Metropolitan Police promptly when quite clearly he could have been picked up.”
Data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last month showed that 179 inmates were wrongly released between April 2025 and March 2026.
The issue was thrown into sharp focus after the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu, who was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex, which prompted a series of protests last year.
The MoJ has previously said that it was investing up to £82 million to drive down accidental releases, adding: “We inherited a prison system in crisis after years of underinvestment, which has resulted in unacceptable rises in release in errors.”
