Jail bosses did not tell cops the inmate had gone for three days allowing him to take in the sights of London, dinner and a night in the pub before fleeing the country
A prisoner freed from jail by mistake enjoyed a ‘very nice dinner’ and ‘quite a lot of drink’ before jetting off to Spain, a court heard.
HMP Pentonville failed to tell police that Ifedayo Adeyeye had been released by accident – which gave him a three-day head start before Scotland Yard launched a manhunt.
He went for a walk across London, had dinner and went boozing in a pub. The Brit-Nigerian is believed to have flown to Spain the next day.
He remains ‘unlawfully at large’. The High Court heard Adeyeye, 58, was released from prison on April 21 after being jailed for contempt of court over the abduction of his five-year-old son.
Staff let him out even though he had only been ordered to serve a 12-month stretch the day before.
He was due to be extradited to France once he had served his sentence.
Mr Justice Hayden said following his release in error, Adeyeye ‘strolled about’ London and ‘had a very nice dinner’ and ‘quite a lot of drink’ at a local pub before transferring thousands from a bank account.
By the time prison staff contacted the Metropolitan Police on April 24, he was believed to already be in Spain. The blunder is the latest wrongful release by the prison service.
Data published by the Ministry of Justice last month showed 179 inmates were freed by mistake between April 2025 and March this year.
Justice chiefs have ordered a crackdown since Hadush Kebatu was released in error after being jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex – prompting a series of protests.
Last June, the judge ruled Adeyeye had abducted his son from the boy’s mum, Claire, in France and taken him to Nigeria via the UK.
Claire has been trying to secure his return through the English courts.
In a legal first, Mr Justice Hayden ruled the High Court had the power to order Adeyeye to return the boy to his mother even though the youngster was not in the UK.
When Adeyeye failed to do so, he was arrested and jailed for six months. The day before his release, he was jailed for another year for failing to organise the boy’s return.
But 24 hours later he was mistakenly released. An internal review is underway into the bungle.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We understand the distress that releases in error can cause to victims and their families and are working with the police to recapture this individual.
“The Government inherited a prison system in crisis after years of under investment which has resulted in unacceptable rises in release in errors.
“That’s why we’re investing up to £82m to digitise outdated paper-based systems, roll out biometrics and strengthen checks so we can better protect the public.”
A new Justice ID system is being introduced so every inmate will have a single digital identity so they can be tracked from arrest through the courts into custody and back into the community.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers were ‘carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate’ Adeyeye and ‘return him to custody’.