𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Fugitive migrant sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been living in the UK illegally after overstaying his visitor visa, the Daily Express understands.

The Algerian criminal was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth on October 29, but the blunder was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, giving him a “six day head start”.

He was convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure. He was sentenced to an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Kaddour-Cherif was serving time for trespass with intent to steal but had previously committed indecent exposure, it is understood.

He most recently appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court in September on a charge of failing to comply with requirements for sex offenders.

The foreign criminal is only now facing deportation proceedings.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “It is appalling that David Lammy knew about the details of a dangerous foreign criminal accidentally released, but did not say anything when asked five times at PMQs. He apparently had the briefing information in his folder, but did not use it.

“He deliberately withheld information from Parliament, and from the public and he should urgently come to Parliament to explain and apologise. Labour has lost control of our borders and lost control of our prisons.

“We should now exit the ECHR so all foreign prisoners can be deported immediately at the end of their sentence.”

Sources confirmed Kaddour-Cherif’s identity to the Daily Express. It comes after Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24. The scandal has prompted renewed fury over the Ministry of Justice’s handling of migrant sex offenders.

Kaddour-Cherif arrived in the UK in 2019, on a visitor visa, and the Home Office acknowledged he had overstayed in February 2020.

But he was not deported.

And the migrant was convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure following an incident in March that year.

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

He was arrested again in September.

Commander Paul Trevers, who is overseeing the investigation, said: “It is just over 24 hours since we were informed of Cherif’s 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. We have seen in the very recent past how important alert members of the public reporting sightings can be.

“To assist with that effort we have released an image of Cherif and bodyworn video footage from an arrest in September this year.”

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was “absolutely outraged” and that his officials have been “working through the night to take him back to prison”.

The inmate’s mistaken release last Wednesday came just days after stronger security checks were put in place in prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error following the blunder in Kebatu’s case.

The Epping migrant jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, which sparked a wave of protests, was accidentally freed from prison instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre last month. He was later traced.

Mr Lammy was repeatedly asked in the House of Commons whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who also serves as Justice Secretary, refused to confirm five times.

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge asked: “I want to ask him a further very important question – can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?”

Mr Lammy refused to confirm the key details – and lambasted the justice system the Government inherited from the Conservatives.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Lammy said: “Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers.

“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.”

According to Government figures published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 – a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.

Reacting to the latest incident, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association Mark Fairhurst told the PA news agency he wants to get reassurances from leaders of the Prison Service that there are robust procedures in place to prevent this happening.

“This should not happen, end of,” he said.

“This is on the leaders of the service, not the staff on the front line, they just follow processes.”

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp also described the mistaken release as “shocking” and said it “makes a mockery” of Mr Lammy’s claim at PMQs to have introduced the “strongest ever checks” on releases.