‘You have a distinctive wonky nose’, police tell prisoner during arrest

A police officer told Brahim Kaddour-Cherif that he had a “very distinctive wonky nose”, which matched images of the mistakenly released prisoner, as the inmate claimed he was somebody else during his arrest.

Footage of the 24-year-old’s detention, captured by Sky News, showed him denying that he was “Brahim” before saying it was not his fault he was released.

He was arrested in Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, north London, earlier on Friday, more than a week after the blunder which saw him released from HMP Wandsworth in the capital.

The video showed him initially standing by the passenger window of a police van wearing a grey hoodie, black beanie and black backpack.

He told a reporter: “I’m not Brahim.”

When asked if he knew him, he said: “Everyone knows him, he’s in (the) news.”

Police began to handcuff his hands in front of him, with one officer telling him: “You’re going to be placed under arrest on suspicion of being wanted … because you look identical to the person released from custody.

“We’re arresting you to prevent your disappearance from location and to prevent any further harm to individuals by your release.”

The prisoner, who is an Algerian national, said: “But I’m not Brahim bro.”

The officer continued: “We are just going to do some further checks because you look exactly like the person.

“I’ve had a look at the photo, you’ve got a very distinctive wonky nose which looks the same as the person.”

Police brought him to the back of the van and held up an image of Kaddour-Cherif next to his face before un-cuffing and re-cuffing his hands behind his back.

Officers searched his backpack and found a laptop, umbrella and wallet.

Before he was put in the back of the van, he turned to those gathered and said: “Look at the justice of the UK, they release people by mistake, after this they ‘ah ah ah’.

“It’s not my f****** fault, they released me … the judge he told me you are released.”

Nadjib Mekdhia, who is also Algerian, claimed he called the police after spotting Kaddour-Cherif and said he is “glad he is in prison”.

The 50-year-old, who is homeless but stays in the Finsbury Park area of north London, said he recognised the prisoner from a newspaper photograph.

He told the PA news agency: “I am glad he is in prison. We do not need people like that in our community.

“I am proud Algerian. I am proud British. We do the right thing.”

He said he was walking past a cafe on Blackstock Road on Friday morning when he saw Kaddour-Cherif.

He said “straight away I called 999, I gave the location” and said “this is him”.

He added: “I was by the Algerian cafe. The individual approached to me. I don’t know what he was doing. I recognised him. I asked a member of the public to give me a phone.

“Straight away I called the police. The police vans came quickly. ”

He said Kaddour-Cherif was just “hanging around” at the time.