Wrongly released sex offender admits crimes

A convicted sex offender who was accidentally released from prison has pleaded guilty to burglary and carrying a knife.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, became the centre of a manhunt in November after he was mistakenly set free from HMP Wandsworth while on remand awaiting trial for the offences.

On Tuesday, Kaddour-Cherif appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court and admitted breaking into a garage in Walthamstow, east London and stealing bikes in January 2024.

On Friday, he appeared at Kingston Crown Court by videolink and admitted to carrying a knife in Earlswood, south-west London in November 2023. He was remanded back into custody and was due to be sentenced for both crimes on 27 January.

He is also due to be sentenced for missing a hearing at Kingston Crown Court on 2 September, at a time when he was on bail.

The Algerian national, who had been overstaying his visa in the UK since 2020, was convicted in 2024 for exposing himself in a London park.

Kaddour-Cherif, from Whitechapel, east London, had previously denied the knife crime and burglary charges, and was remanded in custody last year by a judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court to await trial.

He was accidentally released from prison on 29 October in a blunder that was discovered on November 4 when the court called the jail to try to set up a videolink for a hearing and it was discovered that he had gone.

Kaddour-Cherif was arrested three days later in Finsbury Park after a tip-off from a member of the public.

It caused embarrassment for the government, as it followed the mistaken release of another migrant, Hadush Kebatu, who was serving a prison term for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Official data from July last year set out that 262 prisoners had been released in error in the year to March 2025 - a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.

Kaddour-Cherif's indecent exposure conviction from 2024 had led to an 18-month community order and him being placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.

He was also detained at an immigration centre in June last year as part of efforts to deport him, but he was swiftly released on immigration bail.

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