Sex offender who punched and bit Met PCs jailed

A convicted sex offender who was at the centre of a national manhunt after being mistakenly freed from prison has been sentenced to 26 weeks in jail for punching and biting two police officers.

Algerian asylum seeker Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, made national headlines in November when it emerged he had been mistakenly set free from HMP Wandsworth.

At the time Kaddour-Cherif was set free, he was facing three live criminal cases and was under investigation for a fourth offence, while a judge had specifically ordered he should be held in custody.

Kaddour-Cherif assaulted the two police officers at Blackhorse Road Tube station, east London, on 20 July, Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court heard.

PC Bradley Glynn, who was off duty at the time, noticed Kaddour-Cherif taking a mobile phone from a Tube passenger who had fallen asleep.

The police officer snatched the handset out of Kaddour-Cherif's pocket and handed it back to the owner, then ordered the would-be thief to leave the train.

Prosecutor Kevin Kendridge said Glynn saw Kaddour-Cherif leave the train but stand next to the doors on the platform, suggesting he was planning to get back on again.

"He shouted the word 'thief' to attract attention, hoping the defendant would go away," Kendridge said.

"[Kaddour-Cherif] punched him to the left side of his head with a closed fist, and the off-duty officer punched the defendant back."

The court heard PC Jason Norton, who was on duty at the station, joined the scuffle to defend Glynn as Kaddour-Cherif threw several punches.

"Together they tried to take control of the defendant, but he managed to punch PC Glynn again and also bite him," the prosecutor said.

"He slammed PC Norton against a wall and dug his face into PC Norton's arm, at which point the officer shouted 'don't bite me'."

The court was shown images of bite marks, while Norton said he had been left fearing he may have contracted an illness.

At a hearing earlier in January, Kaddour-Cherif pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting an emergency worker, but said he had not known at the time that the two men were police officers.

Magistrate Elizabeth Robb, who ordered him to pay £154 in compensation to the police officers said: "It was a serious assault in both cases, prolonged and quite nasty.

Kaddour-Cherif is now in Home Office custody and is due to be questioned again about his asylum claim.

He was previously taken into immigration custody in June due to his criminal offending, but he was soon set free from the detention centre on bail.

Kaddour-Cherif, who was convicted in 2024 for exposing himself in a London park, is due to stand trial next month at Croydon Magistrates' Court on a charge of handling stolen goods.

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