On Wednesday, around midday (or late evening AEDT), the Metropolitan Police announced that a 24-year-old Algerian man had been mistakenly freed from His Majesty’s Prison Wandsworth, located in south-west London, on October 29.
The Met reported that the Prison Service alerted them to the man’s release shortly after 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Police stated, “Officers are conducting urgent investigations to locate and return him to custody.”
The Algerian man’s identity and the charges or convictions against him have not been disclosed by the Met Police.
This incident follows a similar situation last month involving Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a convicted sex offender and asylum seeker, whose release from a Chelmsford, Essex prison caused governmental embarrassment.
The Met’s announcement coincided with Justice Secretary David Lammy’s reluctance to assure parliament that no other accidental releases had occurred since that incident.
As Deputy Prime Minister, Lammy was taking Prime Minister’s Questions in the absence of Labour leader Keir Starmer.
A spokesperson for Starmer later told UK media the latest release was “unacceptable” and would be “forensically” looked at.
Opposition defence spokesperson James Cartlidge asked Lammy five times to reassure the house that “no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison”.
He refused, instead attacking the Tories over the state the prisons system was in when Labour came into office in July 2024 and pointing to an ongoing review of the mistaken releases being undertaken by Dame Lynne Owens.
“Get a grip man,” Lammy shouted over the roar of the boisterous chamber.
“I know I’m the Justice Secretary. That’s why I’m at the dispatch box also as deputy prime minister.
” ⦠Dame Anne Owens is a former deputy commissioner in London, head of the NCA [National Crime Agency], it is for her to get to the bottom of that work.”
That review is due to be completed before Christmas. Starmer’s spokesperson reportedly said the Algerian’s release would likely form part of the review but refused to say whether Lammy knew about it during PMQs.
UK government data released in July showed 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025, up 128 per cent from the previous year.Â
The Prison Service also launched an investigation into Kebatu’s mistaken release, and a prison officer was removed from duties while it’s completed.Â
Government officials described the mistake at the time as an “egregious failure”.
Kebatu had already made national headlines even before he was released in error. His arrest earlier this year over the sexual assault of a teenage girl triggered a wave of angry anti-migrant protests in London and other cities.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison for five offences, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old on the outskirts of London in July a little more than a week after arriving in England by boat.
It sparked protests at the Bell Hotel in Epping, where he was staying along with other newly arrived migrants, as well as other hotels housing migrants across the country. Stand Up to Racism also rallied in counterprotests.
The opposition and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have forced the issue of unauthorised migration â especially the tens of thousands of migrants crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats to reach the UK â to the top of the political agenda and harshly criticised the government for housing migrants in hotels.
