A major manhunt is continuing for Kaddour-Cherif as ministers on Thursday morning as ministers confirmed they have ordered an emergency meeting with prison governors over bungled releases.
David Lammy allegedly went suit shopping as a crisis engulfed his department (Image: House of Commons/AFP via Getty I)
David Lammy was accused of a “dereliction of duty” for going suit shopping hours after learning a second migrant sex offender had been mistakenly released from prison.
The under-fire Justice Secretary, who was told Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was wrongly freed on Tuesday night, “spent the next morning going out shopping”, Robert Jenrick claimed.
A major manhunt is continuing for Kaddour-Cherif as ministers on Thursday morning as ministers confirmed they have ordered an emergency meeting with prison governors.
But Labour’s handling of the crisis has prompted widespread fury, with Mr Lammy under fire for repeatedly refusing to say if there had been more mistakes during an extraordinary row in the House of Commons.
The “shocking” blunder comes just days sex attack asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu went free and sparked warnings that the fugitive is a “danger to the public”.
Shadow Justice Secretary Mr Jenrick told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He needs to get a grip.
“This is a complete and utter shambles.
“The second convicted sex offender illegal migrant in two weeks has been released accidentally from one of our prisons despite the fact that the Justice Secretary, after the first incident, said he was putting in place the most robust checks to ensure this never happens again.
“It took six days for the prison service to even become aware that this had happened and inform the Metropolitan Police, who are now a week behind in the manhunt, then the Justice Secretary is informed about this on Tuesday night.
“He didn’t come clean. He spent the next morning, we’re told, going out shopping for a suit rather than taking charge of his department.
“He then comes to Parliament and doesn’t answer five straight questions about this.
“I think it is a disgrace. It’s a total dereliction of duty. He now needs to put in place the checks that are necessary.
“The very serious point here is that the public are being endangered yet again. This man must be found, deported and the prison service must ensure this stops happening.”
In an earlier appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Jenrick swore on live television when discussing the wrongly released prisoners and the Government’s response, calling it “total bullshit”.
Robert Jenrick has hit out at the Justice Secretary (Image: Getty)
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said prison governors had been summoned to a meeting to discuss the accidental release of criminals.
A “crack team” of digital experts was also being brought in to overhaul the “archaic” paper-based system within the prison service.
She told Times Radio: “We’ve also convened an urgent meeting today with the governors of prisons, because there is nothing better than hearing directly from the people working on the ground.”
But, she added: “This isn’t sadly, going to be fixed overnight, although I wish it was.”
The Justice Minister told Times Radio said she was “furious” about the situation.
She said: “What we’re doing is we’re addressing this issue directly (to) be ensuring that we are putting in checks and balances.
“We are convening the governors to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
“It’s not going to be fixed overnight, sadly, I don’t have a magic wand, but we are putting plans in place to actually fix the issues.”
Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said there are an average of 22 prison releases in error every month.
He told BBC Breakfast: “The leaders of this service have known about this for over 12 months, but only now it’s in the spotlight. Are they doing something to remedy it?
“The POA have asked for a royal commission, because we realise that the entire criminal justice system at this moment in time is in complete meltdown.
“It’s not just prisons. It’s probation, it’s the court, it’s the police. And we want a royal commission to discover not just what’s gone wrong, but more importantly put it right.”
Algerian Kaddour-Cherif was set free from HMP Wandsworth in London on October 29 but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday.
He had been living in the UK illegally after overstaying his visitor visa, the Daily Express understands.
The criminal was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously been convicted for indecent exposure.
It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.
Meanwhile Surrey Police are hunting another inmate, Billy Smith, 35, who was also accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth on Monday.
He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences on the day he was accidentally freed.
Just two days before the Algerian convict was released, David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, had vowed to increase checks on prisoners being released following the nationwide manhunt for Kebatu.
He knew about the second wrongly released prisoner but refused to answer five times whether any more asylum seekers had been mistakenly freed since Kebatu during deputy Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
Kaddour-Cherif had been serving time for a break-in at the Royal Society of Literature in Somerset House on the Strand in September 2023.
He also had a previous sexual offence conviction for exposing himself to a woman in March 2024 in Lloyd Park in Walthamstow, east London – not far from his address in Tower Hamlets.
Kaddour-Cherif had previously been charged with a string of other alleged offences, including possession of a knife, handling stolen goods and another count of burglary.
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.
