David Lammy to face MPs amid pressure over mistaken prisoner releases

Justice Secretary David Lammy will face questions from MPs as pressure mounts over prisoners freed in error.

His appearance in the Commons comes after an Algerian sex offender and a fraudster from HMP Wandsworth were accidentally freed, sparking a double manhunt, and after the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu, whose arrest sparked the asylum hotel protests in Epping.

Mr Lammy admitted on Friday there is a "mountain to climb" to tackle the crisis in the prisons system - he will face questions on Tuesday, November 11.

Prisons minister Lord James Timpson said on Monday there is "no quick fix" to releases in error, and it is "going to take time to get it right".

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said he would press Mr Lammy to make clear how many prisoners have been accidentally released since April 1 this year and how many are still at large, as well as how many are violent or sexual offenders.

Mr Jenrick said the accidental releases of Kebatu and the two prisoners that sparked manhunts were "just the tip of the iceberg", and that the British public deserve to have the "full picture".

Ethiopian national Kebatu has since been deported, while Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was arrested on Friday and is understood to be in the process of being deported.

Billy Smith, who was also accidentally freed from Wandsworth on Monday - after having been sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences, handed himself back in on Thursday.

Stronger security checks were announced for prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error after Kebatu was freed from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.

Three prisoners are now understood to be at large after being released in error.

Over the weekend, it was reported that a total of four such offenders had been released in error, with two released in June this year, and two in 2024.

On Monday, sources within the Government suggested that one of these had been returned to custody.

But in a sign of the crisis behind the scenes within the custodial estate, he is understood to have never actually been released in error, and was miscounted among those who had been.

Whether the miscounted prisoner remains in custody or was released at the correct time is unclear.