<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A convicted sex offender who was mistakenly released early from a </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/uk" rel="" target="" title="London"><span>London</span></a><span> prison was arrested on Friday after more than a week of freedom, police said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was one of </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/met-police-searching-for-another-mistakenly-released-foreign-prisoner/d1901418-980e-48dc-ac2a-cc6786239eb2" rel="" target="" title="two men accidentally released from Wandsworth Prison in the past two weeks"><span>two men accidentally released from Wandsworth Prison in the past two weeks</span></a><span> that has caused a political headache for the government and focused renewed attention on an overcrowded and overwhelmed prison system.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The other inmate, Billy Smith, 35, who was sentenced to nearly four years for fraud, surrendered at the Victorian-era lockup on Thursday.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-government-shutdown-forces-flight-cuts/a3136e68-88bf-44da-b9a5-48aaee31eaa3"><strong><span>Thousands of flights to be cut across US airports amid government shutdown</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cherif, 24, a registered sex offender due to a previous indecent exposure conviction, was serving time for trespass with intent to steal.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Algerian national who overstayed a legal visit to the UK in 2019 was in the initial stages of deportation when freed from the prison.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was stopped by police in north London in an arrest filmed by Sky News. He initially denied he was the man they were looking for and then said he was not to blame for being on the streets.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/inmate-mistakenly-released-from-london-prison-arrested-after-more-than-a-week-of-freedom/e7d6ab8f-0b5b-4eb6-a93d-31e47236bc29" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm not Brahim, bro," he initially told a police officer who said he recognised his distinctive nose.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Everyone know him, he's in (the) news," Cherif said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After police officers pulled out their phones to look at the photo of the wanted man, he effectively admitted he was Cherif.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It is not my fault," Cherif said. "They released me illegally."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Both men were wrongly freed from Wandsworth, which was built in southwest London in the middle of the 19th century, and was under scrutiny after another prisoner escaped two years ago by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The inadvertent releases followed more stringent security checks that were supposed to be in place after an asylum-seeker who inspired a rise of anti-immigrant protests was mistakenly freed from Chelmsford Prison, east of London, on October 24.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prison chiefs were summoned to a meeting on Thursday to discuss the errors and said efforts were being made to update a system that still uses paper prison records.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The mistaken releases have become a source of heated debate and a political liability for the Labour government after being a thorn in the side of their Conservative predecessors.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>According to government figures, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year ending March 2025, a 128 per cent increase on the previous 12-month period.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Conservatives say the Labour government is to blame for a policy to release some inmates earlier to ensure prisons don't exceed capacity.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Labour has blamed 14 years of Conservative rule and years of austerity that has starved the Prison Service of resources.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We inherited a prison system in crisis and I'm appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing," Justice Secretary David Lammy said after the arrest.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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