A migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison has been arrested.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian national, was arrested in Islington after being spotted by a member of the public just before 11.30am, the Metropolitan Police said. “Officers responded immediately and he was arrested,” the force said on X.
Kaddour-Cherif was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth in south London on October 29 when he was supposed to be in custody awaiting trial. Police were informed of the mistake only on Tuesday, prompting the manhunt.
Nadjib Mekdhia, 50, a homeless Algerian man, said he called the police after recognising Kaddour-Cherif from a newspaper photograph.
Dhia claimed he first saw Cherif around Finsbury Park on the day he was released from prison.
“[Cherif] gave me £10 and asked me to buy him a fag. After, when I saw his picture in the news, I clocked it was him,” he added.
David Lammy, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, confirmed that Kaddour-Cherif was back in custody. He said: “We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing.
“I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight. That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”
A second inmate released in error from the same prison on Monday, Billy Smith, 35, handed himself in on Thursday.
Kaddour-Cherif’s release came just days after Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender who had been housed in an Epping asylum hotel, was wrongly set free from prison. Kebatu was also arrested in the Finsbury Park area two days after his release.
Prison governors were summoned for crisis talks with the government on Thursday over the accidental releases.
The number of prisoners released in error stood at 262 in the year to March 2025, about 22 a month. That marked a rise of 128 per cent on the previous year and is more than double that of any year in the past decade.
Tougher checks on those being released from prison were introduced on October 27 after the release of Kebatu.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: “That’s one down. Where are the other 262 prisoners accidentally released last year? And how many prisoners have been accidentally released this year? David Lammy is hiding an even bigger scandal.”
Kaddour-Cherif arrived in the UK legally as a teenager on a six-month visit visa in 2019. His permission to stay expired and the Home Office lodged a “probably over-stayer” case. Five years on, he remains here.
Kaddour-Cherif is placed in handcuffs
SKY NEWS
Analysis by The Times shows that he awaits three separate trials for alleged offences including possession of a knife, burglary and handling stolen bank cards. He has pleaded not guilty in all three cases.
A Sky News camera crew captured the moment of arrest and Kaddour-Cherif initially denying that he was the wanted man. The footage shows Kaddour-Cherif, wearing a grey hoodie, black woolly hat and carrying a black backpack walking to the police on Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park.
Tom Parmenter, a Sky News reporter, asked him: “Are you Brahim?”
Kaddour-Cherif told him: “I’m not Brahim. My name is Ryan Al Halil, bro.”
The reporter asked him, “But do you know Brahim?” and he replied: “Everyone know him, he’s news.”
A police officer handcuffed Kaddour-Cherif and read him his rights, telling him: “We’re just going to do some further checks because you look identical to the person released from custody, OK?”
Kaddour-Cherif replied: “Bro I’m not Brahim.”
The officer told him: “We’re just going to do some further checks because you look exactly like the person. I’m going to look at the photo — you’ve got a very distinctive wonky nose.”
Kaddour-Cherif’s custody photo
AFP/METROPOLITAN POLICE
A bystander said that he was the one who called the police and Kaddour-Cherif shouted at him: “You called the police and you made me. Even it’s not my fault I don’t give a f*** . Wandsworth jail released me illegally, go sort it out with them. The judge released me.”
The officers looked at Kaddour-Cherif’s mugshot and compared it with the arrested man. Kaddour-Cherif told them: “Put my details, Ryan Al Hilal.”
Kaddour-Cherif shouted to the news crew: “Look the justice of the UK. Release people by mistake after that say ‘ah ah’. It’s not my f***ing fault, they release me, the judge told me, ‘You are released on bail’.”
Sky News said that it had spoken to Algerian men in Finsbury Park who were aware that Kaddour-Cherif was in the area. They were tipped off that he was in Finsbury Park, followed someone they were told knew him then saw police officers running past and witnessed the arrest.
Parmenter, Sky’s national correspondent who had spoken to members of the Algerian community, said: “There was some kind of willingness to try and bring a resolution to this and get the manhunt resolved because a lot of people didn’t like what it was doing to the reputation of that community.”