Another foreign prisoner was accidentally released in Great Britain. According to Sky News, it happened in Wandsworth Prison in South London on October 29, TASR reports. “Shortly after 1pm on Tuesday 4 November, the Metropolitan Police were informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday 29 October,” London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed to Sky News.
“The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian and the police are conducting an urgent investigation to locate him and return him to custody,” she added. According to Sky News, he was serving time for trespassing with intent to steal but had a history of sexual offences.
The latest incident comes just five days after high-profile sex offender and migrant Hadush Kebatu was released from Chelmsford Prison in Essex. Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister David Lammy responded last Monday by tightening controls on the release of prisoners.
It is not yet clear why almost a week passed between the wrongful discharge and the police being informed. According to the Prime Minister’s office, Keir Starmer was unaware of the incident until the Metropolitan Police was notified. His spokesman said “one wrongful dismissal is too many” and the case was “absolutely unacceptable”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote on the X Network: “James Cartlidge (shadow defense secretary) asked the deputy prime minister (David Lammy) five times (in parliament) if another migrant sex offender had been released from prison by accident… Now we read that it happened again and he has been on the run for a week. This is chaos from the government.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on social media: “Thanks to Labor, another dangerous criminal is on the loose. What a total farce.” The number of these types of errors has increased recently, according to Sky News, with 262 cases between March 2024 and March 2025.
