Manhunt for second jail inmate freed by mistake

A MANHUNT is under way for an Algerian convicted sex offender who was wrongly released from prison last week.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was serving a sentence at HMP Wandsworth in southwest London for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously also been convicted for indecent exposure, sources said.

He was freed from the jail, which was put into special measures last year, on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.

It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.

A spokesperson for the Met said: “Shortly after 1pm on Tuesday November 4, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday October 29.

“The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian man.

“Officers are carrying out urgent inquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody.”

It is understood Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was “absolutely outraged” and that his officials have been “working through the night to take him back to prison”.