Algerian man mistakenly released from London prison

An Algerian man has been mistakenly released from prison in London, police have said.

A Met Police spokesperson said officers were carrying out “urgent enquiries” to locate the 24-year-old man, who was released in error from HMP Wandsworth last Wednesday.

It comes after migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was also released from prison by mistake last month.

The Ethiopian national, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex.

During Prime Minister’s Questions Justice Secretary David Lammy, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, was repeatedly asked whether any other asylum-seeking offender had been accidentally let out of prison since Kebatu was released but refused to answer.

Shortly after PMQs ended, the Met Police released a statement revealing another foreign prisoner had been released by mistake last Wednesday.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “Shortly after 13:00hrs on Tuesday 4 November, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, 29 October.

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

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

Reacting to the news, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the BBC’s Politics Live programme: “One release in error is one too many, and I understand why people will be concerned about this.

“I would expect the Metropolitan Police to be conducting a manhunt at the moment, frankly, to find this individual, because they shouldn’t be at large.”

She added: “I suspect that after Prime Minister’s Questions, David Lammy will be going straight back to the Ministry of Justice, and asking some very tough questions indeed of his officials about what has happened.”