Algerian criminal arrested in UK after accidental release triggered manhunt

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was due to be deported after being convicted for a string of offences

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif being arrested in September this year. Photo: Metropolitan Police

An Algerian criminal accidentally released from prison while waiting to be deported from the UK has been arrested.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison in London on October 29 but the Metropolitan Police were only informed on Tuesday. The force said Kaddour-Cherif was finally detained in the Islington area of north London on Friday.

“Cherif was spotted by a member of the public in Blackhorse Lane, Islington just before 11.30am. Officers responded immediately and he was arrested,” said a representative.

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The moment he was arrested by police in a van was captured by Sky News, who asked if he was Brahim. He initially denied he was Brahim and gave another name.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif has a number of convictions. Photo: Metropolitan Police

Asked if he knew Brahim, he replied “everyone know him, he’s news” and at that point an officer came out of the vehicle and glanced at a picture of Kaddour-Cherif on his mobile phone.

The officer then told the wanted criminal he was under arrest “because you look identical to the person released from custody” then placed him in handcuffs.

Kaddour-Cherif replied that “I’m not Brahim” but the officer said “we’re going to do some further checks because you look exactly like the person … you have a very distinctive wonky nose”.

As he was led to the back of the van he spoke with bystanders in Arabic. In his bag, police officers found a number of items including a laptop. An angry Kaddour-Cherif then swore at the officers who were placing him into the back of the van.

Political furore

The incident has led to a political storm in the UK, with Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy under fire after reports suggested he was aware of Kaddour-Cherif’s release.

During Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), when he stood in for the absent Keir Starmer, Mr Lammy refused to address the issue when repeatedly questioned by opposition Conservatives.

Kaddour-Cherif first entered the UK legally as a visitor in 2019 but was flagged and suspected of overstaying his visa in February 2020.

The Algerian has least 10 previous charges or convictions for sex offences, theft and assaults. The Met Police have released images of him being arrested in September.

The force said he is believed to have links to Tower Hamlets, in East London, and was also known to spend time in the Westminster area, the centre of the UK capital.

The accidental release came in the wake of the high profile search for Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who was convicted of sexually assaulting a girl while staying at a hotel in Epping, near London.

Kaddour-Cherif was convicted of exposing himself in Walthamstow, north-east London, in March 2024, and burglary at the Royal Society of Literature at Somerset House in central London in November that year. In January this year he was fined for assault by beating.

Court records show he was being held in an immigration removal centre, at Colnbrook near Heathrow Airport, in June, indicating he was being readied for deportation.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy faced questions in Parliament about Kaddour-Cherif's release from jail. AFP

But he was then moved to alternative custody to face trial at Southwark Crown Court for various offences.

He was sentenced to six weeks in jail for possession of a knife. One count of burglary and another of handling stolen goods were also on the charge sheet at the hearing, but there was no record of a plea being entered to either charge.

Kaddour-Cherif was also accused of burglary in Walthamstow and a case management hearing had been due to take place this month at Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London.

The Ministry of Justice defended Mr Lammy’s actions and pinned the blame on the crisis facing prisons on the previous Conservative government.

“The crisis in the prison system this government inherited is such that basic information about individual cases can take unacceptably long to reach ministers,” a representative said.