REVEALED: The Albanian drug dealer who has been at large for 15 months after being mistakenly released under Labour's watch

These revelations emerged as Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy appeared before Parliament, having previously avoided confirming whether another foreign national had been wrongly released during a heated exchange with MPs the previous Wednesday.

During his Commons statement, Mr Lammy disclosed that 91 inmates had been wrongly released from custody between 1 April 2024 and 31 October this year.

More than 262 had also been released in error in the year to March 2025.

The two remaining fugitives currently at large are both British nationals.

One had been incarcerated for aggravated burglary before their erroneous release in June, whilst the other was mistakenly freed in December 2024 after being detained for failing to appear before police.

During his Commons address, Mr Lammy admitted that the release system had descended into such disorder that prison officials remained uncertain whether an inmate freed on November 3 had been legitimately discharged or represented another humiliating blunder.

"I've been informed this afternoon that HM Prison and Probation Service are investigating a further case of a potential release in error on November 3, who may still be at large,” he told MPs.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick had previously threatened to demand Mr Lammy's resignation if transparency was not forthcoming.

Reacting to the Deputy Prime Minister’s statements, Mr Jenrick said: "The public are being endangered as this circus rumbles on week after week, with no end in sight.

“As we all suspected, the crisis on his government's watch is even bigger than he dared admit. That's why he wouldn't say anything last week,” he added.

Of the total 353 erroneous releases, 91 occurred between April and October this year, with the remaining 262 happening earlier in 2024, according to figures Mr Jenrick had demanded be made public.

Mr Lammy offered what he termed "an unequivocal apology to all who have faced worry, or worse as a result of releases in error”.

He specifically expressed contrition to the relatives of a 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu, who was accidentally released last month.

Kebatu was subsequently deported following his recapture.

Mr Lammy detailed how Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, walked free from HMP Wandsworth due to inter-prison communication failures.

These errors resulted in staff missing an email regarding an arrest warrant for burglary. Kaddour-Cherif was eventually recaptured by authorities after nine days.

Attempting to grapple with the crisis, Mr Lammy has established a justice performance board and requested former police chief Dame Lynne Owens to broaden her investigation to examine data collection and publication practices regarding erroneous releases.

The Government has allocated £10million to develop an artificial intelligence system that will digitise the current paper-dependent release procedures. This technological overhaul aims to address the fundamental flaws in prisoner discharge processes.

Additional measures include establishing a rapid-access courts hotline enabling prison personnel to verify outstanding warrants before releasing inmates.

Additionally, a specialist team of data scientists will examine historical release records to identify systemic failures.

A Downing Street spokesman said the number of accidental releases was “symptomatic of a system that the Government inherited, of a prison system under severe strain, a failing criminal justice system.

The spokesman added that "the public are right to be shocked by these cases", acknowledging widespread concern over the administrative failures.”

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