Sex offender prisoner Brahim Kaddour Cherif launched by mistake arrested and pictured

On Nov 7, 2025

A sex offender who was accidentally released from prison has been located by police after a huge manhunt for the suspect. HMP Wandsworth prisoner Brahim Kaddour Cherif, who was mistakenly released last Wednesday, has been found after the Met launched the search.

The Met Police said it was informed of the release of Brahim Kaddour Cherif, 24, shortly after 1pm on Tuesday and immediately deployed officers to hunt him down. Cherif is a registered sex offender, having been convicted in November 2024 of indecent exposure relating to an incident in March that year.

He was given an 18-month community order and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years. Authorities said Cherif, who is an Algerian national, was believed to have links to Tower Hamlets and was also known to frequent the Westminster area.

Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of 24-year-old Algerian national Brahim Kaddour Cherif who has been released in error from HMP Wandsworth. The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was informed of the release in error shortly after 1pm on Tuesday and immediately deployed officers to begin a search. Issue date: Wednesday November 5, 2025. PA Photo. Commander Paul Trevers, who is overseeing the hunt for Brahim Kaddour Cherif, said: "It is just over 24 hours since we were informed of Cherif's release. We launched an immediate manhunt and urgent inquiries 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". Photo credit should read: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. — Brahim Kaddour Cherif, 24, has been arrested following a huge manhunt after he was mistakenly released from prison
(Image: PA)

A Met Police spokesperson said: “At 11.23am on Friday, 7 November, a call was received from a member of the public reporting a sighting of a man they believed to be Brahim Kaddour-Cherif in the vicinity of Capital City College on Blackstock Road in Islington.

“Officers responded immediately and at 11.30am detained a man matching Cherif’s description. His identity was confirmed and he was arrested for being unlawfully at large.

“He was also arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker in relation to a previous unrelated incident. He has been taken into police custody. The Prison Service has been informed.”

He said he was someone else before cops confirmed his identity
(Image: Sky News)

It comes after several other prisoners were accidentally freed from prison, in blunders that have been dubbed “national embarrassments”. William “Billy” Smith, 35, has been detained by cops after being wrongly released from HMP Wandsworth this week.

Smith was being hunted by Surrey Police, who say he was let out of HMP Wandsworth in error on Monday (November 3).

Before this, sex offender prisoner Hadush Kebatu, 38, was accidentally released from HMP Chelmsford in Essex, only to be spotted catching a train to London. He remained on the run for three days before his capture in a north London park. The Ethiopian national was photographed being escorted away by a team of plain-clothes officers near a bus stop in Finsbury Park on October 26.

General view of HMP Wandsworth, London. — The HMP Wandsworth prisoner was arrested in Finsbury Park, Islington
(Image: PA Archive)

He was merely weeks into a 12-month prison term for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and woman in Essex. Kebatu had been residing at the Bell Hotel in Epping when he committed his offences.

Following his recapture, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he would “be deported”, stating “we must make sure this doesn’t happen again”.

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