On Thursday 6 November, William “Billy” Smith – freed in error from UK prison HMP Wandsworth three days earlier – walked back into the prison and handed himself in. But the manhunt continued for a 24-year-old Algerian migrant sex offender, released by mistake from the same jail on 29 October. Just five days earlier, the high-profile accidental release of Hadush Kebatu – which resulted in him being paid taxpayer money to follow deportation orders – happened due to “human error” at HMP Chelmsford. These recent blunders are not anomalies; they are symptoms of a colossal problem with the UK prison system which continues to fail the public. In the year to March 2025, 262 prisoners were released in error – more than double the previous year’s 115. These are not isolated incidents. The system is broken.
Who Was Set Free by Mistake?
Wandsworth, a byword for chaos after past security failures, let out two prisoners in a matter of days. The Algerian national, identified as Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, was wrongly freed on 29 October and remained at large a week later when Smith handed himself in. Police confirmed Kaddour-Cherif is a registered sex offender, previously convicted of indecent exposure, following his arrival into the UK. He was arrested on Friday 7 November in London, a shocking nine days after his wrongful release.
Smith, 35, was released on Monday after receiving a 45-month sentence for multiple fraud offences. By Thursday, he was back in custody – but only because he chose to be. The Surrey Police appeal to find him was withdrawn after he voluntarily returned to Wandsworth.
An Avalanche of Prison Failures, Not One-offs
These incidents followed another mistaken release just days earlier. Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian migrant convicted of sexual offences involving an underage girl, was mistakenly freed from HMP Chelmsford on 24 October before being located and deported from the UK. That makes three wrongful releases in two weeks – each one eroding public trust and stretching police resources.
The bigger picture is worse, however, and these incidents draw attention to an ongoing problem the government rarely admits. The Telegraph analysed government data and found 262 mistaken releases between March 2024 and March 2025 vs 115 the year before – a 128% jump. Officials have launched a review, and experts point to overcrowding as pressure points that increase the likelihood of errors.
Who is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif?
The Algerian national was convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure relating to an incident in March that year. He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
It has been confirmed that he is not an asylum seeker, but rather he entered the UK legally on a visit visa in 2019 and overstayed his visa. He was declared a “probably over-stayer” in 2020 and never left.
In a video recorded by Sky News, Kaddour-Cherif deliberately tried to mislead a reporter who found him walking near Finsbury Park station. He was then arrested by police in the video, to whom he also denied his identity before angrily saying “they released me illegally, go sort it out with them, not me, boss”.
The police used smartphones to check the photos posted online of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif to check if he really was the wanted migrant sex-offender. He angrily claimed, “it’s not my f*** fault. The judge told me I am released”. When asked why he didn’t hand himself in, Kaddour-Cherif answered “do your job”.
What Went Wrong at Wandsworth Prison?
Early reporting suggests a cascade of process failures, including mistaken identity, communication delays, and inaccurate paper-based records. It took Wandsworth six days to notify police of Kaddour-Cherif’s erroneous release. Each day of delay compounds the difficulty of recovery and risk to the public.
Ministers have now promised “the strongest checks ever”, yet the failures keep coming. Enhanced checklists are still allowing hundreds of convicted criminals loose on UK streets, with delayed notifications sent to police forces, and public safety anxiety skyrocketing.
What’s the Excuse?
Former prison governors warn that an overcrowded system breeds mistakes. In creating space, staff move people faster through transfers, releases and deportation pipelines. More movement means more paperwork, more handovers, and more opportunities to click, type or file incorrectly. Apparently, it’s an error machine, and it’s operating at scale.
When the priority is to get people out rather than get processes right, marginal errors become huge problems. The statistical spike to 262 mistaken releases in a single year looks more like an acceleration in an existing trend rather than a blip in an otherwise effective system.
Prison Mistakes Putting Public at Risk
Let’s remember that a mistaken release is not a victimless administrative glitch. It’s not an office-based typographical error or a miscalculation on a balance sheet. Releasing registered sex offenders by error forces communities into avoidable risk and police into reactive manhunts. It also undermines judicial finality: a judge’s sentence doesn’t mean anything if the gate is left open anyway.
Each public failure invites the public to ask whether prisons can still protect them from criminals. When a fraudster is let free and still chooses to walk back in, it’s farcical. When a dangerous offender disappears for over a week, it’s terrifying.
What Thursday Taught Us
Smith’s voluntary return on Thursday offered a sliver of relief as well as a sharp contrast. One man corrected the system’s mistake and saved surplus embarrassment for the government. The other remained missing a week after their wrongful release that the state failed to communicate in time. Are we really seeing a UK prison system that depends on convicted criminals doing the moral thing, and fixing the state’s mistakes?
Final Thought
Three wrongful releases in two weeks – two of which from the same prison. 262 in a single year. Every mistaken release is another embarrassment for an already struggling government. These errors cost the taxpayer more than just money – safety is on the line too. What is everyone paying for? Long judicial processes for migrant sex offenders to be convicted – only for them to be set free anyway?
Join the Conversation
Do you accept ministers’ excuses for these mistakes? Did you know the number was in the hundreds for erroneous releases? These recent cases have exposed a system that many never realised was broken, and it’s putting the public at risk. Share your thoughts below.
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Categories: Breaking News, UK News