Another international legal on the run: Man serving 21 years for kidnapping and GBH is hunted by police after strolling out of open jail
Another foreign criminal has escaped from prison, as police admit they have been unable to locate him for almost a month.
Ola Abimbola, a foreign national, allegedly walked out of the open prison HMP Ford on October 16 and has not been seen since.
The 36-year-old is currently serving a 21-year sentence for offences including kidnap, GBH and possession of an offensive weapon in public.
He is yet to return to the prison, with Sussex Police saying it is working with partners to find him.
Abimbola is the second foreign national known to be on the run from police, with Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, still at large since he was mistakenly freed from HMP Wandsworth on October 29.
Another Wandsworth prisoner, William ‘Billy’ Smith, 35, was also wrongly set free on Monday but handed himself into the scandal-hit jail on Thursday.
Mark Drury, a member of the Prison Governors’ Association, warned there had been a ‘sudden’ rise in absconders from open prisons in recent years, adding that there is an ‘increased risk to the public’.
He explained that, due to attempts to tackle prison overcrowding, ‘there are a large number of prisoners in open prisons now we would not have considered suitable two or three years ago’.
Ola Abimbola, a foreign national, escaped from open prison HMP Ford on October 16 and has not been seen since
Sussex Police released this CCTV image Abimbola last month after allegedly walking out of prison
Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly freed from the scandal-hit prison on October 29, while British national William ‘Billy’ Smith has been at large since Monday due to a court error.
The Algerian migrant was serving time for trespass with an intent to steal but has previously committed a sexual offence of indecent exposure.
He was accidentally released from the south London prison on October 29 but the mistake was only reported to the Met Police at 1pm on Tuesday, November 4, raising serious questions over why it took nearly a week for the force to be informed.
The fugitive came to Britain legally on a visa in 2019 but it expired and he has been here as an ‘overstayer’ since, it is understood.
The Home Office flagged his immigration records as an overstayer on February 6, 2020, sources said – meaning he has been in Britain illegally since then.
Kaddour-Cherif, who has links to both Tower Hamlets and Westminster, most recently appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in September on a charge of failing to comply with sex offender requirements.
With Kaddour-Cherif still at large, his accidental release is latest in a series of such cases that have embarrassed the authorities in recent days.
It followed soon after last month’s scandal when Ethiopian migrant Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly freed from HMP Chelmsford.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been serving a sentence at HMP Wandsworth for trespass with intent to steal. He has a past conviction for indecent exposure
Hedush Kebatu (pictured) was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre
Kebatu, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex, was freed in error on October 24.
He was arrested in Finsbury Park, north London, three days later and was only finally deported after being paid £500 to go quietly.
HMP Ford is not the only open prison where inmates have gone missing in recent weeks.
Days after Abimbola’s escape, Thames Valley Police reported that a ‘vicious’ Eeast London drug dealer had absconded from HMP Spring Hill in Buckinghamshire.
Osei Kuffour, 36, had been serving 25 years for attempted murder after shooting a woman in the face when he failed to return the category D prison in October.
He was arrested the next day by police after warning members of the public not to approach him.
Another inmate Anton Newell, 36, who is originally from Isleworth in Middlesex, absconded from the same open prison in June and it remains unclear whether he remains at large.
Investigating officers Detective Sergeant Matthew French, said: ‘We are appealing for the public’s help in tracing Newell. We would strongly advice members of the public not to approach him but to call 999 if they see him.
‘If you have information as to his whereabouts then please call 101 quoting reference 43250369549.’
Osei Kuffour, 36, had been serving 25 years for attempted murder after shooting a woman in the face when he failed to return to HMP Spring in October. He was arrested the next day
Another inmate Anton Newell, 36, who is originally from Isleworth in Middlesex, absconded from the same open prison in June and it remains unclear whether he remains at large
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that he was ‘angry and frustrated’ by ‘intolerable’ wrongful prisoner releases, although he defended his Justice Secretary David Lammy.
Mr Lammy repeatedly refused to confirm at PMQs on Wednesday, when he was standing in for Sir Keir, whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Hadush Kebatu, the now-deported migrant at the heart of protests in Epping, Essex.
He told reporters on Thursday he was ‘not equipped with all the detail’ about Kaddour-Cherif’s release when he appeared in the Commons.
‘We have found out that the release that has caused concern, this week, was actually before I introduced those checks just a few weeks ago following the release of Kebatu, and the other prisoner was a court mistake not, in fact, a prison mistake,’ Mr Lammy added.
The Justice Secretary had confirmed on October 27 that stronger release checks would come into force immediately, two days before Kaddour-Cherif was released.
