A manhunt continues for two prisoners released by mistake, including a migrant sex offender, as the Justice Secretary faces pressure over the error.
Police are trying to track down Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth last Wednesday October 29.
They are also searching for another inmate, Billy Smith, 35, accidentally released from the same south-west London prison on Monday.
David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, is meanwhile under fire after reports emerged which suggested he was aware of Kaddour-Cherif’s release and had prepared to address it when he filled in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, but did not.
Mr Lammy, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, repeatedly failed to tell MPs whether any more asylum seekers had been mistakenly released from jail since the case of Epping hotel migrant Hadush Kebatu.
The story broke as PMQs were ending, and a comment released on Mr Lammy’s behalf said he was “absolutely outraged” over Kaddour-Cherif’s release.
Mr Lammy is understood to have been briefed about the case on Tuesday night, and The Times newspaper reported he had a statement ready to read out if the news broke, but did not do so for fear of pre-empting the Metropolitan Police.
The newspaper also said Mr Lammy rejected calls from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to return to the Commons and give a statement on the error as aides believed it would be “career suicide”.
The Ministry of Justice defended Mr Lammy’s actions, and pinned the blame on the crisis facing prisons.
A spokesman said: “The crisis in the prison system this Government inherited is such that basic information about individual cases can take unacceptably long to reach ministers.
“On entering the House, facts were still emerging about the case and the DPM (Deputy Prime Minister) had not been accurately informed of key details including the offender’s immigration status.”
Kaddour-Cherif is serving a sentence at Wandsworth for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously also been convicted for indecent exposure.
He was freed from the prison, which was put into special measures last year, on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.
The Algerian national is understood to not be an asylum seeker, but is in the process of being deported after he overstayed his visa.
Smith, who has links to the Woking area, was freed on Monday, and had been sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences on the same day he was accidentally freed.
The BBC reported that a clerical error by a court had led to his release, as he was listed as receiving a suspended sentence, rather than one in custody.
A string of influential figures in the justice system have warned that the crisis in prisons has made mistaken releases more likely.
Andy Slaughter, the Labour chair of the Commons justice committee, said the events “speak to a wider justice system at breaking point”.
He added: “While the day-to-day running of prison security and public safety are paramount, the current spate of releases in error will be repeated until the underlying failures are addressed.”
Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, told Times Radio that austerity had an impact on the prisons system.
“Prisons are not vote winners… after 14 years of austerity and cuts, well, let’s be honest, cuts have consequences. And this is the fruition of those cuts,” he said.
