Police have launched a double manhunt after two convicted criminals were mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth within a week, exposing catastrophic operational failures at the crisis-hit south London prison already under special measures.
The latest error occurred just two days ago. On Tuesday (4 November), Billy Smith, 35, walked free from the prison hours after being sentenced to 45 months for fraud – after a court clerk entered his custodial sentence as “suspended” in the computer system.
It followed another blunder less than a week earlier, when Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, a convicted sex offender, was mistakenly released on 29 October due to an administrative error.
Both men are now subject of active police manhunts, with Smith’s release on Tuesday meaning officers are racing to locate him before the trail goes cold.
The double blunder comes despite HMP Wandsworth being placed in special measures last year following serious concerns about the prison’s operations. It also follows government promises of “the strongest checks ever” to prevent such errors after another migrant prisoner was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford in October.
Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy said he was “absolutely outraged” by the releases and has ordered an independent investigation.
Sentenced and freed on the same day
The Smith case reveals chaos in court and prison administration. He was sentenced to 45 months at Croydon Crown Court on Monday (3 November), appearing via video link from Wandsworth prison.
According to the BBC, a clerical error at the court level saw his custodial sentence incorrectly entered in the computer system as a suspended sentence, resulting in his immediate release the following day.
Smith, described as a rogue trader who defrauded 19 people including elderly victims while posing as a roofing contractor, is now being sought by Surrey Police. He has links to the Woking area and was last seen wearing a navy Nike jumper, navy tracksuit bottoms, and black trainers.
The fraud offences he was convicted for occurred between August 2022 and February 2025 in Surrey.
The error came just days after another Wandsworth blunder. Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, a convicted sex offender, was mistakenly released on 29 October.
The Algerian national was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal and had previously been convicted of indecent exposure. He was placed on the sex offenders register for five years following a November 2024 conviction for indecent exposure.
He was released from Wandsworth on 29 October, but the error wasn’t reported to the Metropolitan Police until Tuesday (4 November) – giving him a six-day head start before the manhunt began.
Met Police Commander Paul Trevers said: “Cherif has had a six-day head start but we are working urgently to close the gap and establish his whereabouts. We will continue to use all the means at our disposal but we are also appealing for the public’s help to find him.”
Kaddour-Cherif, who also uses variations of his first name including Ibrahim, has links to Westminster and Tower Hamlets in London. It is understood he is not an asylum seeker but is in the initial stages of being deported for overstaying his visa, which he entered the UK on legally in 2019.
The mistaken releases at Wandsworth are part of a dramatic national surge in such errors. Government figures published in July show 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 – a 128% increase on the 115 mistaken releases in the previous 12 months.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor has said mistakes are happening “all the time” and are symptomatic of chaos within the prison system.
Government response
The releases have sparked fury in Westminster. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told Parliament: “Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens, to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long.”
However, the timing of the Wandsworth errors, coming just days after new security checks were supposedly implemented following the Chelmsford error, has undermined confidence in the government’s response.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the mistaken releases as “shocking” and said they “make a mockery” of Lammy’s claim to have introduced the “strongest ever checks.”
Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said prison leaders must take responsibility: “This should not happen, end of. This is on the leaders of the service, not the staff on the front line, they just follow processes.”
For residents near HMP Wandsworth, less than a mile from Putney town centre, the double error raises serious questions about confidence in a major local institution.
The prison was placed in special measures in 2024 following concerns about its operations. It has a new governor who has been making inroads into the prison’s many, longstanding problems but there is still a very long way to go as most recent inspection report into the prison made plain.
What happens next
The independent investigation ordered by David Lammy will examine what went wrong in both cases and whether there are systemic issues that allowed two separate errors to occur at the same prison within days.
Dame Lynne Owens is leading the investigation into the wider pattern of mistaken releases across the prison estate.
Meanwhile, both manhunts continue. Members of the public who spot either man are urged not to approach them but to contact police immediately.
Anyone with information about Kaddour-Cherif’s whereabouts should contact the Metropolitan Police. Information about Billy Smith should be reported to Surrey Police quoting reference SYP-20251105-0472.
The Telegraph has a paywall on this story, and also seems terribly slanted- only covering one prisoner and emphasizing his immigration status, calling him a migrant due to be deported. This is a much better and fair article.