Police launch double manhunt as two prisoners mistakenly released from jail

A double manhunt is under way for an Algerian convicted sex offender and another prisoner who were wrongly released from HMP Wandsworth.

Police are trying to track down Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, who is serving a sentence at the south-west London jail 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.

Meanwhile Surrey Police are hunting another inmate, Billy Smith, 35, who was also accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth on Monday, who has links to the Woking area.

He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences on the day he was accidentally freed.

It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.

A spokesperson for the Met said: “Shortly after 1pm on Tuesday November 4, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday October 29.

“The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian man.

“Officers are carrying out urgent inquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody.”

It is understood Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker but he is in the initial stages of being deported for overstaying his visa.

He first entered the UK legally on a visit visa in 2019 but was flagged as an automatic case of having likely overstayed on February 6 2020.

Smith is understood to be a rogue trader who was acting as a roofing contractor to defraud victims including the elderly.

He was jailed for conspiracy to defraud 19 people between August 31 2022 and February 19 2025 in Surrey.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was “absolutely outraged” over Kaddour-Cherif’s release, and that his officials have been “working through the night to take him back to prison”.

The inmate’s mistaken release last Wednesday came just days after stronger security checks were put in place in prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error following the blunder in Kebatu’s case.

The Epping migrant jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, which sparked a wave of protests, was accidentally freed from prison instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre last month. He was later traced.

According to the Met, registered sex offender Kaddour Cherif also uses other variations of his first name, including Ibrahim, and has links to Westminster and Tower Hamlets.

He was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024 and given an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Commander Paul Trevers 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. We have seen in the very recent past how important alert members of the public reporting sightings can be.”

According to a courts service spokesman, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was fined for assault by beating in January; then in June was jailed for six weeks for possession of a knife at Southwark Crown Court.

One count of burglary and one count of handling stolen goods were also on the charge sheet at that hearing, but there was no record of a plea being entered to either charge, the spokesman said.

Kaddour-Cherif was also accused of burglary in Walthamstow and a case management hearing had been due to take place at Snaresbrook Crown Court tomorrow.

Shortly before news of the latest incident broke, Mr Lammy had been asked in the House of Commons whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who also serves as Justice Secretary, refused to confirm four times.

He found out about the error at HMP Wandsworth overnight, it is understood.

But he declined to answer repeated questions at PMQs about whether any further migrants were released mistakenly because information was still emerging about the “complicated” case involving multiple agencies, sources said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Lammy said: “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.”

According to Government figures published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 – a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.

Reacting to the latest incident, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association Mark Fairhurst told the PA news agency he wants to get reassurances from leaders of the Prison Service that there are robust procedures in place to prevent this happening.

“This should not happen, end of,” he said.

“This is on the leaders of the service, not the staff on the front line, they just follow processes.”

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp also described the mistaken release as “shocking” and said it “makes a mockery” of Mr Lammy’s claim at PMQs to have introduced the “strongest ever checks” on releases.

In the fallout from Kebatu’s accidental release, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said mistakes are happening “all the time” and are symptomatic of the chaos within the system.