Four prisoners who were accidentally released from custody in 2024 and this summer remain at large. Reports indicate that two inmates mistakenly freed last year have not yet been located, while another two went missing after their wrongful release in June this year.

This week, two additional men were inadvertently let out of HMP Wandsworth. Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian, was found in Islington after being on the run for over a week. His capture followed a tip-off from a member of the public. Shortly after Kaddour-Cherif's release, William ‘Billy’ Smith was also mistakenly freed from the same prison. Smith later voluntarily returned to custody a few days after his release.

The accidental releases come on the heels of another incident involving Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford in Essex. Kebatu, a former asylum seeker from Ethiopia, gained notoriety after his case led to protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping.

Justice Secretary David Lammy expressed his dismay, stating he was "appalled at the rate of releases in error."

Prison guards have revealed to Metro that such mistakes are more common than the public may realise. They attribute the errors to overcrowding and understaffing in prisons, which complicates the monitoring of inmates. One officer commented, "It is a category B jail; there will be prisoners going in and out every day for court dates and visits, and they are so understaffed. It is just part of a wider issue of prison funding."

The situation raises concerns about the management of the prison system and the safety implications of these accidental releases.