Second foreign national offender mistakenly freed from jail named having been missing for a WEEK

The prisoner's mistaken release came just five days after Hadush Kebatu was wrongfully freed from HMP Chelmsford, sparking a two-day manhunt.

The Metropolitan Police was not informed of the latest mistake until November 4, multiple days after Cherif was released.

The offender, who police say also goes by the name Ibrahim, was convicted in November last year of indecent exposure relating to the incident in March, 2024.

He was sentenced to an 18 month community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

The offender was understood to have been serving time for trespassing with an intent to steal upon his mistaken release.

"We launched an immediate manhunt and urgent enquiries have been ongoing since.

"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."

It remains unclear why it was almost a week between the prisoner's disappearance and the police being informed that an offender was at large.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has blasted what she called a "shambles of a Government" after the second foreign prisoner was mistakenly released.

James Cartlidge repeatedly asked Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy during PMQs whether any other foreign offenders has been released from prison, however the Justice Secretary refused to answer.

After the news, Badenoch said: "James Cartlidge asked the Deputy PM FIVE times to tell us if ANOTHER migrant sex offender had been accidentally released from prison.

"Instead of answering, Lammy lost his temper. Now we read it HAS happened again & he's been on the run for a week. This is a shambles of a government."

Mr Lammy said that he was "absolutely outraged and appalled" by the news of a second mistaken release.

"Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers," he said. "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.

“This latest incident exposes deeper flaws across the failing criminal justice system we inherited. Dame Lynne Owens’ investigation will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues, so we can fix them, improve safeguards and ensure the public is properly protected.”

Downing Street has insisted that Sir Keir Starmer has "full confidence" in Mr Lammy. The spokesman refused to say if the Deputy Prime Minister knew about the wrongly released prisoner before PMQs.

They pointed journalists to the Ministry of Justice and the Metropolitan Police, who were informed by the Prison Service that the man is missing.

The Prime Minister was not aware of the second foreign offender being wrongly released from prison until the Metropolitan Police issued a statement, Downing Street suggested.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage took to social media to express his disgust.

"Another dangerous criminal is on the loose thanks to Labour," he wrote. "What a total farce."

The number of accidental releases has dramatically risen recently, with 262 instances between March 2024 and March 2025.

After the wrongful release of Kebatu, and two days after the accidental release of a second inmate in a separate prison, Mr Lammy promised "the strongest release checks that have ever been in place".

A spokesman for Tory leader Badenoch said at the time: "It's an absolute disgrace and it goes to the heart of how much this Government is messing up our immigration system.

"We have said we need to leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and deport all foreign criminals as soon as possible, and we certainly shouldn't be giving them taxpayers' money to leave our country."

This marks the second mistaken release in recent weeks, after Ethiopian national Kebatu was accidentally allowed to leave HMP Chelmsford on October 25.

The migrant was found guilty of touching and trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl during two encounters in Epping on July 7 and 8. He was found guilty of five offences in total, including sexually assaulting another woman.

The cases are understood to have occurred just days into his stay at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Kent, following his arrival across the Channel on a small boat.

While he was sentenced to 12 months behind bars, he was accidentally freed instead of being sent to an immigration removal centre after just one month.

The resulting two-day manhunt ended in Kebatu being deported back without a right of return.