Lammy: 'Mountain to climb' on prisons

JUSTICE Secretary David Lammy has said he was “not equipped with all the detail” about a mistaken prisoner release when he appeared at PMQs, and said the Government had a “mountain to climb” in tackling the prisons crisis.

- ANAHITA HOSSEIN-POUR, DAVID LYNCH, HELEN WILLIAM AND RHIANNON JAMES

Police are trying to track down Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, who was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth last Wednesday, October 29.

Another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, who was also accidentally freed from the same prison on Monday, has handed himself back in.

Mr Lammy has faced scrutiny over his handling of the mistaken release of the second foreign prisoner after he refused to answer questions put to him on the issue in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The Justice Secretary refused to confirm repeatedly at Prime Minister's Questions, when he was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Hadush Kebatu, the now-deported migrant at the heart of protests in Epping, Essex.