David Lammy admitted three wrongly released prisoners are still at large today – and the government is not sure about another.
The Justice Secretary revealed the details as he finally faced a grilling from MPs, a week after brazenly dodging questions on the bungles.
Ms Lammy told the Commons that 91 prisoners have been let out by mistake in just seven months. He said three were still loose – two British nationals and a foreign national. One committed a Class B drug offence and another was convicted of aggravated burglary.
Officials are still trying to establish whether a fourth offender was still loose after being wrongly freed on November 3.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the situation over ‘Lammy’s lags’ was a ‘farce’.
The Deputy PM was heavily criticised for his evasive performance while standing in for Keir Starmer at PMQs.
Mr Lammy was branded a ‘clown’ by opponents after refusing to answer directly whether another foreign offender had been let out by mistake – only for the truth to be confirmed minutes later.
He also compounded the confusion by suggesting he had spent the morning out suit shopping instead of dealing with the crisis.
The problems surfaced after Epping migrant hotel resident and sex offender Hadush Kebatu was let out of HMP Chelmsford, on October 24 and arrested in north London after a two-day manhunt.
Justice Secretary David Lammy will come to the Commons nearly a week after he brazenly dodged questions on the bungles
Hadush Kebatu (pictured) was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre
A manhunt was launched for an Algerian prisoner who was released by mistake from Wandsworth prison (file photo)
Defending his blustering performance at PMQs, Mr Lammy said: ‘At that time, I had been alerted of the release of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif from HMP Wandsworth.
‘Details about the case were still emerging throughout Wednesday.
‘Importantly, my officials had not had confirmation about whether or not he was an asylum seeker.
‘Indeed, it was not until later that afternoon that the Home Office confirmed to the Ministry of Justice that he was not.
‘Given the nature of the opposition’s question, I made a judgment that I would wait until I had all the detail, rather than risk giving an accurate or incomplete or misleading picture to the House about a sensitive case.’
Mr Lammy argued that the release of Kaddour-Cherif was due to factors before he brought in tougher release provisions.
‘Members will recall that following the release of Hadush Kebatu on October 24, I put in place stronger release checks,’ he said.
‘I can confirm that the error leading to Mr Kaddour-Cherif’s release happened in September before those checks came in.
‘He was charged with burglary at Snaresbrook Crown Court and a warrant was issued to HMP Pentonville for his remand.
‘Contrary to the set down process, it was then forwarded by email to HMP Wandsworth when Mr Kaddour-Cherif was transferred, however, staff did not pick it up and he was released on October 29.
‘Mr Kaddour-Cherif was taken back into custody on November 7 by Haringey police. I’m grateful to officers from my part of north London again after they also re-arrested Mr Kebatu.’
Mr Lammy’s performance last week prompted mutterings – even within Labour ranks – that he was not up to the job.
The MoJ said today that 262 inmates were mistakenly let out in the year to March 2025 – a 128 per cent increase on the 115 in the previous 12 months.
Between April and October there have been another 91 releases in error.
Downing Street has admitted that the figures were ‘shocking’.
‘These numbers, they are symptomatic of a system that the Government inherited, of a prison system under severe strain, a failing criminal justice system,’ a No 10 spokesman told reporters.
‘As we’ve set out previously, the Government inherited a (situation) where the male prison estate was running at 99% capacity. That risks the potential breakdown of law and order.
‘The public are right to be shocked by these cases. While they are rare, they have been rising year-on-year from an average of nine per month in 2023 to 17 per month the next year.
‘And we’re clear that you can’t fix the prisons crisis overnight, but we have taken immediate action, including tougher new release checks, calling in prison governors, sending in tech experts.
‘The DPM (Deputy Prime Minister) is setting out further steps in this moment and in the long term, the Government is building 14,000 additional prison places and delivering major reforms to sentencing through the Sentencing Bill to ensure that no government is ever in the position that it inherited again.’