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The Algerian sex offender accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth has been arrested. Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was arrested near Capital City College on Blackstock Road in Islington, north London, the Metropolitan Police said. A TV crew witnessed the dramatic moment he was detained just before 11.30am. Sky News reporter Tom Parmenter confronts Kaddour-Cherif who does not initially confirm his identity but says: “Everyone knows him, he’s news.” He denies being the escapee as an officer handcuffs him but later admitted who he was, saying: “It’s not my f***ing fault. Footage shows a policeman tell him he looks identical to Kaddour-Cherif as reinforcements arrive on the scene. The Algerian is seen shouting to people standing in the street. An officer then holds up a photo of Kaddour-Cherif on a phone, comparing the image to the man arrested. Finally, Kaddour-Cherif confirms the mix-up at the prison was the fault of the authorities. Asked by Parmenter why he didn’t had himself in, he yelled: “Do your job, do your job! The justice in the UK… You release people by mistake. “It’s not my f***ing fault. The judge, he told me – you are released on bail. “That’s it. You destroy your life. “It’s not my fault. I was in jail. They released me illegally.” The fugitive had been spotted by a member of the public and the force said on X, formerly Twitter: “Officers responded immediately and he was arrested.” A spokesman added: “His identity was confirmed and he was arrested for being unlawfully at large. “He was also arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker in relation to a previous incident. “He has been taken into police custody. The Prison Service has been informed.” Kaddour-Cherif was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in London on October 29, but police were only informed of the mistake on Tuesday, prompting the search. He was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously been convicted for indecent exposure. Another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, who was also accidentally freed from the same prison on Monday, has handed himself back in. The mistaken releases have brought fresh pressure on Justice Secretary David Lammy, following the high-profile jail blunder of Hadush Kebatu, the now-deported migrant at the heart of protests in Epping, Essex. Stronger security checks were announced for prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error after Kebatu was accidentally freed on October 24, prompting a three-day manhunt. The Ethiopian national had been jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, but was freed by mistake instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre. He was later traced and deported. But Lammy, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, has faced criticism over his handling of the latest release in error after he repeatedly refused to confirm at Prime Minister’s Questions whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu. Lammy said he found out about the mistake on Wednesday morning, but the detail was released just after he had finished PMQs. It is understood Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker, but is in the process of being deported after he overstayed his visa. Lammy said on Thursday that engineers, analysts and designers will be sent into prisons “within 48 hours” to roll out technology aimed at reducing human error and modernising the “paper-based” processes that have led to mistaken releases. He announced the new measures after meeting with 11 prison governors at the groundbreaking of a new prison in Gartree, Leicestershire. Kaddour-Cherif is a registered sex offender who was convicted of indecent exposure in November last year, following an incident in March. At the time, he was given a community order and placed on the sex offenders register for five years. He was then subsequently jailed for possessing a knife in June.
