At a glance
• Convicted fraudster William ‘Billy’ Smith, mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on Monday, handed himself back into the prison on Thursday, ending a police manhunt
• Police are still searching for Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a sex offender wrongly freed from the same jail on October 29
• Justice Secretary David Lammy called the situation ‘unacceptable’ and said digital systems are being introduced to replace paper records
One of the prisoners wrongly released from Wandsworth jail has handed himself back.
Convicted fraudster William “Billy” Smith smiled and waved as he strolled back into the south London prison on Thursday morning.
The 35-year-old, from Surrey, was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday, but was accidently released from custody the same day, sparking a police manhunt.
He was filmed by ITV News as he returned to the prison, accompanied by his partner.
Police are still trying to track down Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, a sex offender mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday October 29.
It comes as the Government hauled in jail chiefs for a meeting today after it was revealed cases of prisoners being mistakenly released had increased by 128 per cent in the last year.
Some 262 people were wrongly released between March 2024 and March 2025, compared to 115 the year before.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said a team of digital experts had been tasked with overhauling the "archaic" paper-based system of prisoner records.
Surrey Police said: "We are cancelling our appeal to help find wanted 35-year-old William Smith who was released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Monday, November 3. Smith handed himself in to HMP Wandsworth today."
According to ITV News, which filmed his return, he was accompanied by his partner, who he hugged before speaking to prison staff at the entrance.
Footage from the broadcaster also showed Smith, wearing a tracksuit, running up a set of stairs outside the jail and having a cigarette before he went inside.
Justice Secretary David Lammy responded to news of Mr Smith's return to custody, describing the spike mistaken releases as "unacceptable".
He added: "We're modernising prison systems, replacing paper with digital tools to cut errors. We're working with police to recapture Brahim Kaddour-Cherif."
Ahead of a meeting with ministers, the Prison Governors Association (PGA) described releases in error as "neither rare nor hidden", but said the scale of them was "deeply concerning".
In a statement, the PGA insisted only 0.5 per cent of prisoners are not released on the correct date, but added: "While that may appear to be a small percentage, in a system managing tens of thousands of releases and transfers each quarter, it does represent a significant operational failure."
The conditions to "reduce this figure to zero simply do not exist", the association said, adding it "feels disingenuous to see politicians attempt to extract political gain from a prison system in crisis".
Justice minister Ms Davies-Jones earlier told the BBC: "We are convening an urgent meeting of the governors of the prisons to try and figure out exactly what is going on on the ground, because these, again, are the men and women dealing with this day in day out."
