Four more prisoners 'at large' after being wrongly freed from jail
It is understood that authorities are searching for more inmates mistakenly freed
Four more prisoners are at large and subject to police manhunts after being mistakenly released from jail, LBC understands.
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The revelation comes just hours after Algerian national Brahim Kaddour Cherif, 24, was caught and arrested following a three-day search.
He had previously been wrongly released from HMP Wandsworth in south London.
Earlier this week, 35-year-old William Smith was also wrongly let out of the same prison but later handed himself back in.
It's been revealed that there are four more ongoing cases of prisoners wanted by authorities in England and Wales after being released in error, ITV News reported.
Read more: Lammy under mounting pressure over prison release chaos as manhunt for sex offender enters third day
It comes as Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy faced mounting pressure by other MPs.
Police deployed "significant resources" in an effort to detain Cherif, who was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal, and had previously been convicted of indecent exposure.
Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire told LBC: "The government have been in power now for 15 months, so it is getting a bit boring just hearing the previous government get blamed for this."
He continued: "It seems to be happening on a daily basis and the government just aren't really giving it the attention and ultimately the funding that it deserves.
"I have a tiny amount of sympathy in the fact that he has been only in the job for a few weeks."
Mr Lammy said on Thursday that engineers, analysts and designers will be sent into prisons "within 48 hours" to roll out technology aimed at reducing human error and modernising the "paper-based" processes that have led to mistaken releases.
The scandal started last month after Epping migrant and sex offender Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford, instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported.
He was located and arrested in London two days later.
The error brought to light concerns over the rising number of prisoners released in error, as the latest Government figures show 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 - a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.
The Prison Governors Association described releases in error as "neither rare nor hidden," but said on Thursday the scale was "deeply concerning."
Mr Lammy had confirmed on October 27 that stronger release checks would come into force immediately, two days before Kaddour-Cherif was released.
The Tories accused him of potentially misleading the public.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: "David Lammy has either lied or has absolutely no clue what's going on in his department.
"How can the public have confidence in the Justice Secretary when he can't establish a timeline of events or answer basic questions?"
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: "The vast majority of offenders released by mistake are quickly brought back to prison, and we will do everything we can to work with the police to capture the few still in the community.
"These cases only further expose the scale of the crisis in our prisons we inherited. This will not be fixed overnight, but we are using every possible lever to bear down on these errors."