Wubi News

Wandsworth prison manhunt: What we know about mistakenly released inmates

2025-11-06 05:00:05
Two prisoners were mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth in the past week

Manhunts are under way for two men who were mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison in London in the past week in separate incidents.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian, who is a sex offender, was released in error last Wednesday.

The second is William Smith, 35, who was jailed for fraud on Monday but then released later the same day.

It comes after the accidental release of Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender, last month at HMP Chelmsford.

Here is what we know.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is a 24-year-old Algerian man.

The Met said he is a registered sex offender who was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024, 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.

He is believed to have links to Tower Hamlets and was also known to spend time in the Westminster area, the police said.

Kaddour-Cherif is understood to have entered the UK legally on a visitor's visa but has now overstayed that and was in the initial stages of the deportation process. He was not an asylum seeker.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif seen in arrest footage from a police bodycam

William Smith, who goes by Billy, was released on Monday, Surrey Police said.

He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday. He appeared via a live video link from HMP Wandsworth.

Smith is described by police as white, bald, and clean shaven.

He was last seen wearing a navy long sleeve jumper with the Nike brand 'tick' across the front in white, navy blue tracksuit bottoms with a Nike 'tick' in white on the left pocket, and black trainers.

Smith has links to Woking but could be anywhere in Surrey, the force said.

A custody image of William Smith. He is described by police now as being clean shaven

Wandsworth Prison is a Victorian-era facility in south London.

Built in 1851, the complex was originally constructed to house fewer than 1,000 prisoners.

An August 2024 report by the prison's independent monitoring board found inmate numbers in the "cramped, squalid" prison, had grown to 1,513.

"Wings were chaotic and staff across most units were unable to confirm where all prisoners were during the working day," the report said.

The board added it was unable to conduct prisoner roll checks because staff could not provide accurate numbers and that a third of officers were not available for operational duty on any given day due to sickness, restricted duties or training.

In April, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons noted the population had been reduced by 150, and other "limited and fragile" improvements had been made.

In 2023 the prison was in the headlines after former British soldier Daniel Khalife escaped by clinging to the underside of a lorry.