FOUR mistakenly released prisoners still on the loose as police launch urgent manhunts

It represented a striking increase over the 115 released in error over the previous year, some of which remain unaccounted for.

The galling statistics have emerged after several high-profile blunders from the prison service made headlines.

On Friday, an Algerian sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison was apprehended by police in north London.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was one of two men separately freed from HMP Wandsworth on October 29.

The previous day, William "Billy" Smith handed himself into the same institution.

Intense public scrutiny over the release of prisoners began with the freeing of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu last month.

The Ethiopian national, whose high-profile case sparked protests across the nation, was mistakenly let go from HMP Chelmsford.

Kebatu would be apprehended three days later and promptly deported.

The 14-year-old he had sexually assaulted revealed the saga had left her "so scared and so anxious".

Reacting to the news, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told GB News: “This chaos and incompetence under Labour is getting worse by the day.

"David Lammy is nowhere to be seen. He is too weak to answer for his failures in Parliament, to the press, or to the public. His so-called ‘strictest ever release checks’ have clearly failed.

“There are four more prisoners currently at large after being released in error. Labour simply do not have the backbone to get a grip on law and order.

“Only the Conservative Party has a common-sense, hard-edged plan to restore order, put 10,000 extra police officers on our streets, and keep the public safe."

David Lammy, the embattled Justice Secretary, 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.

"That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons."

In their own statement, 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."

The Government has also come under fire for prisoners absconding from open prisons, low-security institutions with relatively minor containment measures.

On October 10, a foreign criminal named Ola Abimbola, who is serving a 21-year sentence for offences including kidnap, GBH, and possession of an offensive weapon in public, escaped the West Sussex open prison HMP Ford.

More dangerous prisoners have begun to be moved to such institutions in an attempt to solve prison overcrowding, launched by both the current and previous governments.

It prompted serving prison governor Mark Dury to warn there the polices had led to an "increased risk for the public".