Police have launched an urgent search for a Palestine Action protester who remains on the run from prison after being granted temporary release for his brother's wedding.
Sean Middleborough, 32, was being held on remand at HMP Wandsworth in south-west London when he received bail for the weekend celebration.
The Liverpool father-of-one has not returned to the Category B facility, prompting authorities to initiate an immediate manhunt.
Middleborough was said to have been part of the alleged conspiracy by Palestine Action members to target the London Stock Exchange through disruptive tactics, including chaining themselves to the building's entrances.
The 32-year-old was charged with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance between November last year and January.
Prosecutors allege the group planned to spray red paint and launch fake banknotes covered in paint whilst blocking access to the financial hub.
During his temporary release, Middleborough participated in a YouTube interview with leftwing media organisation Declassified UK.
He said: "I have 23 other co-defendants in prison, so if I have to go back and I have to engage in a hunger strike in solidarity with them and the movement overall, that is what I am going to do."
A Palestine Action protestor is on the run after being temporarily released from HMP Wandsworth
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Palestine Action has since been designated a proscribed terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.
This places it alongside groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, with membership carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.
Middleborough’s escape marks the most recent blunder from the scandal-plagued prison, which has seen multiple inmates wrongly freed in recent weeks.
Last week, it emerged that Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, and British fraudster William Smith, 35, were both mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth due to administrative errors involving incorrect paperwork or documents sent to the wrong facility.
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Sean Middleborough was said to have been part of the alleged conspiracy by Palestine Action members to target the London Stock Exchange
|Kaddour-Cherif was arrested on Friday, November 7, following a frantic police search, while Smith handed himself in.
Prison sources indicate at least four offenders who were accidentally freed remain at large, including two who were mistakenly released in 2024 and another pair freed in June 2025.
The number of prisoners wrongly released has surged from 115 in the year ending March 2024 to 262 in the following 12 months.
Intense public scrutiny of the prison service was sparked after the accidental release 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.
Speaking about Britain’s parlous prison system, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told GB News: “This chaos and incompetence under Labour is getting worse by the day.
“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."
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