What we know about two mistakenly released prisoners

Manhunts are under way after two men were mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison in London in the past week.

The first, released last Wednesday, is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian man and a sex offender.

The second is William Smith, who had been jailed for fraud on Monday, the same day he was subsequently released in error.

It comes after the accidental release of Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender, last month due to what was described as "human error" at HMP Chelmsford.

Here is what we know.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was "released in error" seven days ago on Wednesday 29 October, the Metropolitan Police says.

The force said it was not told about the mistake by HMP Wandsworth until Tuesday 4 November.

"Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody," a police spokesperson said.

Then on Monday, Surrey Police appealed for help to find 35-year-old William Smith, who was mistakenly released from Wandsworth on the same day he had been sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple fraud offences.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is a 24-year-old Algerian man and is not an asylum seeker.

The Met confirmed he is a registered sex offender and was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024 relating to an incident in March that year.

He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.

He is believed to have links to Tower Hamlets and was also known to frequent the Westminster area, the police said.

Kaddour-Cherif is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visitor's visa but has now overstayed that and is in the initial stages of the deportation process.

William Smith, who goes by Billy, was released on Monday, Surrey Police said.

He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday, during which he appeared via a live video link from HMP Wandsworth.

Smith is described by police as white, bald, and clean shaven.

He was last seen wearing a navy long sleeve jumper with the Nike brand 'tick' across the front in white, navy blue tracksuit bottoms with a Nike 'tick' in white on the left pocket, and black trainers.

Smith has links to Woking but could be anywhere in Surrey, the force said.

We know very little at this stage about why or how Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly released.

We also do not know why the police were not told about the error in releasing him for almost a week.

Multiple prison sources say the process of release is complex and bureaucratic, and sometimes errors are made, including in calculations over time served.

As for Smith, the BBC understands he was released as a result of a clerical error at the court level.

He was given a custodial sentence but it was entered in the computer system as a suspended sentence.

This was spotted and corrected by the court but the correction was sent to the wrong person.

During Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, was repeatedly asked by shadow justice secretary James Cartlidge whether any further asylum-seeking offenders had accidentally released from prison since Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu last month.

Lammy repeatedly refused to directly answer the question but towards the end of the session it emerged that a prisoner had been mistakenly released. This referred to Kaddour-Cherif.

BBC political editor Chris Mason said he was told Lammy was aware of the incident going into PMQs, but not whether the man was an asylum seeker.

29 October: Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth

3 November: William Smith is sentenced to 45 months in prison. Later the same day he is mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth

13:00 on 4 November: Six days later, the Prison Service informs the Metropolitan Police that the prisoner had been released in error on 29 October

Overnight into 5 November: Justice Secretary David Lammy is informed about the accidental release

Around 11:45 on 5 November: The Conservatives reportedly find out that a wrongly released prisoner is at large

12:00 on 5 November: Lammy repeatedly refuses to answer when asked by shadow justice secretary James Cartlidge whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since the high-profile case of an Epping sex offender last month

12:43 on 5 November: Cartlidge tells the House of Commons that a second imprisoned asylum seeker had been mistakenly freed - Lammy declined to respond

13:41 on 5 November: Lammy releases a statement saying he is "outraged and appalled by the foreign criminal wanted by the police" and promises that an "urgent manhunt" is under way

16:43 on 5 November: Metropolitan Police puts out an appeal for Kaddour-Cherif and says "urgent" inquiries are ongoing

While he did not comment directly on the case during PMQs afterwards Justice Secretary David Lammy said he was "absolutely outraged" and that his officials have been "working through the night to take [Kaddour-Cherif] back to prison".

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was "shocking that once again the Labour government has mistakenly allowed a foreign criminal to be released from prison".

He added that Lammy's PMQs appearance was "nothing short of disgraceful" and accused him of being "dishonest" with the public and parliament.

Philp later made a point of order calling for Lammy to come back to answer questions on the matter.

Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said the latest error was "unacceptable" and would be investigated.

The Liberal Democrats' justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller is calling for Lammy to return to the House of Commons to explain "why he failed to answer" questions on whether another prisoner had been mistakenly released during PMQs.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called the incident a "farce".

Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting - where the prison is located - said: "Local residents will quite rightly be deeply concerned. We urgently need answers from the government and Ministry of Justice as to how this was allowed to happen."

The MP for Woking has told BBC Radio Surrey it's "completely unacceptable" that another prisoner - with links to the area - has been accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth.

Lib Dem Will Forster, MP for Woking, said it was "completely unacceptable" that William Smith had been released accidentally.

"It's utterly unacceptable that my constituents in Woking are going to be worried about their safety due to the government wrongly releasing three prisoners in a matter of a week," he said.

Wandsworth Prison is a Victorian-era facility in south London.

Built in 1851, the complex was originally constructed to house fewer than 1,000 prisoners.

An August 2024 report by the prison's independent monitoring board found inmate numbers in the "cramped, squalid" prison, had grown to 1,513.

"Wings were chaotic and staff across most units were unable to confirm where all prisoners were during the working day," the report said.

The board added it was unable to conduct prisoner roll checks because staff could not provide accurate numbers and that a third of officers were not available for operational duty on any given day due to sickness, restricted duties or training.

In April, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons noted the population had been reduced by 150, and other "limited and fragile" improvements had been made.

In 2023 the prison was in the headlines after former British soldier Daniel Khalife escaped by clinging to the underside of a lorry.