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A 24-year-old Algerian prisoner was mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison in south London on October 29th, the Prison Service has confirmed. The Metropolitan Police said they were only notified of the error nearly a week later, on Tuesday, November 4th.
“Officers are conducting an urgent investigation to locate the man and return him to custody,” a police spokesperson said.
The inmate had been serving a sentence for burglary with intent to steal, but was also known to have previous convictions for sexual offences.
The blunder occurred just five days after the release of Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender whose case sparked national outrage, and two days after Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy announced tighter checks on prisoner releases.
It is not yet clear why it took several days for authorities to realise that the Wandsworth prisoner had been mistakenly freed. The Ministry of Justice said it had been made aware of the incident and that “a full review” was under way.
Administrative errors of this kind have been on the rise, with 262 mistaken releases recorded between March 2024 and March 2025.
Following the Kebatu case, Lammy promised to introduce “the toughest release checks ever” and ordered an independent inquiry, led by Dame Lynne Owens, former Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The Conservative Party called the Kebatu scandal a “national disgrace” and demanded accountability for repeated failures within the prison system.
