ONE of two prisoners mistakenly released from a London jail has handed himself in to authorities, but police are still hunting for a second man freed in error.
Billy Smith, 35, surrendered to Wandsworth Prison on Thursday (6), three days after being wrongly released, Surrey Police said. He had been serving a sentence for multiple fraud offences.
However, police are still searching for Brahim Kaddour Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian who was mistakenly freed from the same prison on October 29. Cherif is a registered sex offender who was convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.
Commander Paul Trevers, who is leading the investigation, said: "Cherif has had a six-day head start but we are working urgently to close the gap and establish his whereabouts."
The cases are a major embarrassment for prime minister Keir Starmer's Labour government, which is already facing criticism over immigration and prison management.
Justice secretary David Lammy said he was "absolutely outraged" and "appalled" by the mistakes, which came just days after stronger prison security checks were introduced.
Alex Davies-Jones, a junior minister in the justice ministry, said prison chiefs had been summoned for a meeting following a catalogue of errors by jail authorities.
The blunders are the latest in a series of similar incidents. Last month, Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, was mistakenly released before being recaptured after 48 hours. The government then forcibly deported him, giving him £500 to leave the country.
Figures show 262 people were mistakenly freed from prison between March 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 in the 21 months previously.
The Home Office confirmed that Cherif entered Britain legally in 2019 but overstayed his visit. It insisted the government seeks to deport foreign nationals who commit crimes in Britain.
Starmer's spokesman called the latest accidental release "utterly unacceptable" but suggested the previous Conservative government was partly to blame for leaving behind a "chaotic" and overcrowded prison system.
The prime minister, in office since July 2024, is coming under fire on multiple fronts as the hard-right Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, surges in national polls.
Opinion polls show Starmer is deeply unpopular with the British public, although the next general election is not expected until 2029.
(Agencies)
