A prisoner whose mistaken release from HMP Wandsworth triggered a nationwide manhunt has been sentenced to 26 weeks in jail for punching and biting two off-duty police officers.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 30 January where Magistrate Elizabeth Robb sentenced him for the assault and ordered him to pay £154 compensation to the officers.
The magistrate said: “It was a serious assault in both cases, prolonged and quite nasty.”
The Algerian national was accidentally released from the prison on 29 October 2025 whilst on remand awaiting trial for multiple offences. Prison staff only reported the error to Metropolitan Police six days later, on 4 November, allowing Kaddour-Cherif a significant head start before the manhunt began.
He was recaptured on 7 November after a member of the public recognised him from media coverage and called police. Officers arrested him in Finsbury Park, north London.
Tube station attack
The court heard that Kaddour-Cherif assaulted two off-duty police officers at Blackhorse Road Underground station in east London on 20 July.
PC Bradley Glynn, who was off duty, noticed Kaddour-Cherif taking a mobile phone from a passenger who had fallen asleep on the Tube. The officer snatched the handset from Kaddour-Cherif’s pocket and returned it to the owner, then ordered him to leave the train.
Prosecutor Kevin Kendridge said PC Glynn saw Kaddour-Cherif leave the train but stand next to the doors on the platform, suggesting he was planning to get back on.
“He shouted the word ‘thief’ to attract attention, hoping the defendant would go away,” Kendridge said.
Kaddour-Cherif punched PC Glynn to the left side of his head with a closed fist. PC Jason Norton, who was on duty at the station, joined the scuffle to defend his colleague as Kaddour-Cherif threw several punches.
“Together they tried to take control of the defendant, but he managed to punch PC Glynn again and also bite him,” the prosecutor said.
Kaddour-Cherif slammed PC Norton against a wall and dug his face into the officer’s arm, at which point Norton shouted “don’t bite me”. The court was shown images of bite marks, whilst Norton said he had been left fearing he may have contracted an illness.
Kaddour-Cherif pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting an emergency worker, but said he had not known at the time that the two men were police officers. He is now in Home Office custody and is due to be questioned again about his asylum claim.
Multiple pending cases
At the time of his mistaken release, Kaddour-Cherif was facing three live criminal cases and was under investigation for a fourth offence, whilst a judge had specifically ordered he should be held in custody.
He pleaded guilty on 9 January to burglary after breaking into a garage on Orford Road, Walthamstow, on 6 January 2024 to steal bikes. He also admitted possessing a knife in Burntwood Road, Earlswood, on 13 November 2023.
Kaddour-Cherif is due to stand trial next month at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on a charge of handling stolen goods.
He also faced sentencing for missing a court hearing at Kingston Crown Court on 2 September 2025 whilst on bail.
The 24-year-old has been overstaying his visa in the UK since 2020. He was convicted in November 2024 for indecent exposure in a London park, receiving an 18-month community order and placement on the sex offenders register for five years.
He was previously taken into immigration custody in June 2025 due to his criminal offending, but was soon released from the detention centre on bail.
The BBC reported that Kaddour-Cherif is now in Home Office custody and is due to be questioned again about his asylum claim, though it is understood he is not an asylum seeker but has overstayed his visa.
Prison system failures
The mistaken release added to mounting pressure on Justice Secretary David Lammy over systemic failures at HMP Wandsworth and across the prison estate.
Official data from July 2025 showed 262 prisoners had been released in error in the year to March 2025, a 128% increase from 115 in the previous 12 months.
HMP Wandsworth’s Independent Monitoring Board described the Victorian-era prison as “inhumane and unfit for purpose” in October 2025, despite recent investments. A 2024 inspection by HM Inspectorate of Prisons found “catastrophic” conditions, with staff displaying an “inability to account for prisoners during the working day” despite nearly £900,000 spent on improvements following the 2023 escape of former British soldier Daniel Khalife.
The prison, located on Heathfield Road in Wandsworth, holds approximately 1,500 men. Overcrowding remains severe, with 80% of inmates sharing cells designed for one person.
Following Kaddour-Cherif’s recapture, Mr Lammy said: “We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing. I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.”
The Justice Secretary ordered new release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and began overhauling “archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”
