A manhunt is underway after a foreign prisoner was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth, police have said.
In a statement, a Met Police spokesperson said a 24-year-old Algerian man had been released in error on Wednesday, October 29, but police were only made aware shortly after 1pm on Tuesday, 4 November.
“Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody,” they said.
This is the second instance of a foreign prisoner being released accidentally, after the high-profile release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, justice secretary David Lammy was repeatedly asked by shadow defence minister James Cartlidge if any other asylum seeker offenders had been released from prison.
Lammy did not answer, with the news of the HMP Wandsworth release breaking later during PMQs.
Cartlidge then asked Lammy if he was aware of this when he was asking him about the issue. Lammy declined to respond.