Algerian prisoner mistakenly released UK manhunt
A manhunt has been launched in the United Kingdom after a 24-year-old Algerian national was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London on 29 October 2025, the Metropolitan Police Service has confirmed.
The prison service notified the police only on 4 November that the prisoner had been released in error, sparking urgent inquiries to locate him and return him to custody.
Reports indicate the man, identified as Brahim Kaddour‑Cherif, had been serving a sentence at Wandsworth and was previously convicted of trespass with intent to steal, as well as an offence of indecent exposure. He is registered as a sex offender.
Officials say he is not an asylum-seeker and entered the UK on a visitor visa in 2019, which he overstayed, making his status irregular. He was reportedly due for deportation.
The incident follows shortly after another case in which a convicted sex offender, Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on 24 October. That earlier error triggered a separate manhunt and sparked significant political and public backlash.
The justice system is now facing intense scrutiny over failures in release procedures at prisons. Government figures show that 262 prisoner releases in error were recorded in the year to March 2025, more than double the previous year, pointing to systemic issues.
