'I didn't have all the details over prisoner release error' – Lammy

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 UK Government had a “mountain to climb” in tackling the prisons crisis.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

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.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, he said: “I took the judgment that it is important when updating the House and the country about serious matters like this that you have all of the detail.

“I was not equipped with all of the detail and the danger is that you end up misleading the house and the general public. So that is the judgment I took, and I think it's the right judgment.”

It is understood Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker but is in the process of being deported after he overstayed his visa.