At a glance
Two prisoners are on the run after being wrongly released from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London.
Convicted Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was wrongly released on October 29 - but police weren’t notified until six days later, while in another major blunder Billy Smith, 35, was released on Monday, the same day he was jailed for fraud.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called it “a total farce” that “another dangerous criminal is on the loose thanks to Labour while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the situation “a shambles”
A foreign prisoner convicted of flashing in a London park and possession of a knife was on the run on Wednesday evening after being wrongly let go from HMP Wandsworth - as it was revealed a fraudster is also being hunted by police following his accidental release from the same jail.
Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly freed on October 29 - just five days after the high-profile release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford.
The 24-year-old was convicted of exposing his genitals in Lloyd Park in Walthamstow in March 2024. He was given a community order from Inner London Crown Court in November last year after he pleaded guilty to burgling the Royal Society of Literature and flashing.
He was handed a six week prison sentence in June at Southwark Crown Court, court records show, after he pleaded guilty to possession of a knife.
Kaddour-Cherif, charged under his alias first name Ibrahim, has been in custody since September 24, when he appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in relation to an alleged burglary.
A trial has been set for March next year and a hearing in his case was due to be listed at Snaresbrook crown court on Thursday.
Commander Paul Trevers, who is overseeing the investigation, said: “It is just over 24 hours since we were informed of Cherif’s release. We launched an immediate manhunt and urgent enquiries have been ongoing since.
“Cherif has had 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 means at our disposal but we are also appealing for the public's help to find him.”
Surrey Police announced the force was also hunting a prisoner released by accident this week.
William ‘Billy’ Smith, 35, was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday but was accidentally let out of Wandsworth Prison the same day.
Surrey Police said: “Smith has links to Woking but could be anywhere in Surrey”.
The Metropolitan Police said it was only informed of Kaddour-Cherif’s accidental release at 1pm on Tuesday November 4 - six days after he was let go.
The fresh blunder in the justice system came just two days after Justice Secretary David Lammy announced enhanced checks on prisoner releases.
It is yet to be explained why it was six days between the prisoner’s release at Wandsworth and the police being informed that an offender was at large.
Mr Lammy faced calls to explain the “grave mistake” in the Commons.
The delay will make it far harder for the offender to be traced.
The numbers of accidental releases has risen recently, with 262 instances between March 2024 and March 2025.
Mr Lammy, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, vowed “the strongest release checks that have ever been in place" in the aftermath of the Kebatu manhunt.
He also ordered an independent investigation into the Kebatu release, which is being led by former Deputy Commissioner of the Met Police Dame Lynne Owens.
Shortly before the news broke, Mr Lammy was asked during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, where he was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu.
Mr Lammy refused to confirm five times under the questioning from shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge- and instead chose to lambast the justice system the Government inherited from the Conservatives.
Mr Lammy told the Conservative MP to "get a grip".
In a point of order at the conclusion of PMQs, Mr Cartlidge said: "The Telegraph are reporting that a police manhunt has been launched for a second asylum seeker mistakenly freed from prison.
"The question is, can (the Speaker) advise on how I can ask the Justice Secretary whether he was aware of this when I asked him about it repeatedly in Prime Minister's questions?"
Mr Lammy did not respond.
He later released a statement saying: “I am absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police. The Metropolitan Police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison.
“Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. 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.
“This latest incident exposes deeper flaws across the failing criminal justice system we inherited. Dame Lynne Owens’ investigation will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues, so we can fix them, improve safeguards and ensure the public is properly protected.”
Opposition parties seized on the latest blunder in the justice system under the Labour Government.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Another dangerous criminal is on the loose thanks to Labour. What a total farce.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch seized added: “Instead of answering, Lammy lost his temper. Now we read it HAS happened again & he's been on the run for a week. This is a shambles.”
Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller said: “This is yet another grave mistake from the Government. The public deserves a full explanation about how this has happened again.”
HMP Wandsworth is the same Category B men's prison which Iranian spy Daniel Khalife escaped from in September 2023.
