Twelve prisoners mistakenly freed in past month and two still at large – Lammy

Twelve more prisoners have been mistakenly freed in the past month and two are still at large, David Lammy has said.

Earlier data showed 91 accidental releases took place between April 1 and October 31 this year.

Speaking to broadcasters on Tuesday morning, the Justice Secretary said 12 inmates had been freed in error since he last gave a statement to the Commons on November 11.

He said he had been “reassured” that the two prisoners still missing are not violent or sexual offenders, but refused to give further details about them.

“I’m not going to give details of those cases, because these are operational decisions made by the police, and you’ll understand if they’re about to arrest somebody they don’t want me to blow the cover,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

The Justice Secretary said he was pleased with a “downward trend” in accidental releases after he announced stronger security checks for prisons in the wake of Hadush Kebatu’s mistaken release on October 24.

Mr Lammy admitted last month there was a “mountain to climb” to tackle the crisis in the prisons system after the police search for Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who was freed in error from HMP Wandsworth.

Another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, who was accidentally released from the same jail, handed himself back, while Kaddour-Cherif was arrested in Finsbury Park.

The blunders intensified pressure on Mr Lammy following the mistaken release of Kebatu, whose arrest for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel sparked protests in Epping, Essex.

Toughened checks were announced for prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error after the now-deported Ethiopian national was accidentally freed from HMP Chelmsford.

Some 262 inmates were mistakenly let out in the year to March 2025 – a 128% increase on the 115 in the previous 12 months, according to Government figures.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick accused his opposite number of failing to “be straight with the public” over the two inmates still at large.

“Calamity Lammy is utterly clueless,” the Tory frontbencher said.

“Twelve prisoners have been mistakenly released since he introduced what he claimed were the ‘toughest ever checks’. But he won’t be straight with the public and say who is still at large.

“The public are consistently being put at risk because of his shambolic management. When will this fiasco end?”