A convicted sex offender, who previously sparked a national manhunt after being mistakenly freed from prison, has been jailed for 26 weeks for punching and biting two police officers.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian asylum seeker, gained national attention last November after his mistaken release from HMP Wandsworth. The blunder highlighted a concerning rise in accidental inmate releases, sparking a government crisis and pledges for tougher security measures.
At the time of his release, Kaddour-Cherif faced three active criminal cases and was under investigation for a fourth, despite a judge's specific order for his custody.
At Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Kaddour-Cherif was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for assaulting two police officers at Blackhorse Road Underground station, east London, on July 20.
Pc Bradley Glynn had been off-duty on a train when he noticed Kaddour-Cherif taking a mobile phone from a Tube passenger who had fallen asleep.
The police officer snatched the handset out of Kaddour-Cherif’s pocket and handed it back to the owner, then ordered the would-be thief to leave the train.
Prosecutor Kevin Kendridge said Pc Glynn saw Kaddour-Cherif leave the train but stand next to the doors on the platform, suggesting he was planning to get back on again.
“He shouted the word ‘thief’ to attack attention, hoping the defendant would go away,” said Mr Kendridge.
“(Kaddour-Cherif) punched him to the left side of his head with a closed fist, and the off-duty officer punched the defendant back.”
The court heard Pc Jason Norton, who was on duty at the station, joined the scuffle to defend Mr Glynn as Kaddour-Cherif threw several punches.
“Together they tried to take control of the defendant, but he managed to punch Pc Glynn again and also bite him,” said the prosecutor.
“He slammed Pc Norton against a wall and dug his face into Pc Norton’s arm, at which point the officer shouted ‘don’t bite me’.”
The court was shown images of bite marks left on one of the officer’s arms, while Pc Norton told the court he had been left distressed and fearing he may have contracted an illness.
At a hearing earlier in January, Kaddour-Cherif pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting an emergency worker, but insisted he had not known at the time that the two men were police officers.
Magistrate Elizabeth Robb imposed a sentence of 26 weeks in prison on Kaddour-Cherif, and also ordered him to pay £154 in compensation to the police officers he had attacked.
“It was a serious assault in both cases, prolonged and quite nasty,” she said.
Appearing over a videolink from HMP Pentonville, Kaddour-Cherif launched into a rant about the characterisation of his crimes, and accused his own lawyer of not reading out a statement he had prepared.
“How could I fight two guys? It was two on one. I’m not that strong,” he said. “They are lying.”
Kaddour-Cherif also claimed that he has been attacked and stabbed in prison.
Kaddour-Cherif has been overstaying his visa in the UK since 2020, and he has now racked up a string of criminal convictions including a past incident of assaulting an emergency worker.
In November 2024, he became a registered sex offender after he was convicted of exposing himself in a London park.
His accidental release from prison happened on October 29 2025, after Kaddour-Cherif had been found not guilty of breaching the requirements of the sex offenders register.
Prison authorities let him go without realising that he was supposed to be held in custody to await a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court for burgling a garage in Orford Road, Walthamstow, east London, to steal bikes on January 6 2024.
The blunder was only discovered when court officials tried to arrange a prison videolink for a hearing in early November last year, only to be told that he had gone.
When he was set free, Kaddour-Cherif was also awaiting trial for carrying a knife in Burntwood Road, Earlswood, south-west London on November 13 2023, and he had just been charged with handling stolen goods relating to the bank cards of two women.
Kaddour-Cherif was re-arrested by Metropolitan Police officers on November 7 2025, near to Finsbury Park after a tip-off from a member of the public.
After being returned to custody, Kaddour-Cherif, who lives in Whitechapel, east London, pleaded guilty to the burglary and knife offences, as well as failing to surrender to a court, and he was sentenced on Tuesday this week to 188 days in prison.
The court in Highbury was told that Kaddour-Cherif has already served that sentence, but is now in Home Office custody at the prison and due to be questioned again about his asylum claim.
Kaddour-Cherif was previously taken into immigration custody last June as his criminal offending was increasing, but he was swiftly set free from the detention centre on bail.
He has denied the charge of handling stolen goods, and is due to stand trial next month at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.
