Police have launched a manhunt after another foreign prisoner was mistakenly released from jail.
The 24-year-old Algerian man was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.
It comes after migrant Hadush Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “Shortly after 13:00hrs on Tuesday, 4 November, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, 29 October.
“The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian man.
“Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody.”
Shortly before the news broke, David Lammy was asked during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who also serves as Justice Secretary, refused to confirm four times.
Shadow defence Secretary James Cartlidge asked: “I want to ask him a further very important question – can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?”
Mr Lammy refused to confirm – and lambasted the justice system the Government inherited from the Conservatives.
He replied: “Let me just remind him that he was a justice minister that allowed our prisons to get to this state in the first place and it’s now for us to fix the mess that we’ve got into.
“It’s important that Dame Lynne Owens can now continue her work and understand what is happening. He knows that early releases begun under their watch in 2021.”
Mr Cartlidge then repeated his question. He said: “He’s the Justice Secretary. He’s responsible for the justice system. He needs to take responsibility.
“And I’m going to repeat it once more for the avoidance of doubt, because he did not answer it twice.
“Can he reassure the House that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum-seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?”
Mr Lammy told him to “get a grip”.
“In 25 years in this House, I have not witnessed a more shameful spectacle frankly than what the party opposite left in our justice system,” he said.
“Their criminal negligence, on his watch as a former justice minister, they left our prisons on the brink of collapse entirely, threatening to allow offenders to run wild on our streets. He knows that. Rape victims waiting years for their day in court. He knows that. Neighbourhood policing decimated, leaving our people feeling unsafe in their communities, and they haven’t learned a thing.
“We are tackling knife crime, that’s why it’s falling, 13,000 more bobbies we are putting on the streets, kicking out 5,000 foreign criminal offenders. I’ve got to say, he should do better.”
In a point of order at the conclusion of PMQs, Mr Cartlidge said: “The Telegraph are reporting that a police manhunt has been launched for a second asylum seeker mistakenly freed from prison.
“The question is, can (the Speaker) advise on how I can ask the Justice Secretary whether he was aware of this when I asked him about it repeatedly in Prime Minister’s question.”
Mr Lammy did not respond.
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