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• Wed Nov 5 2025

The justice system is failing - the buck stops with Lammy

5 hours ago Share Save Chris Mason Political editor Share Save

Reuters

Last week, after a migrant sex offender was mistakenly released from prison, Justice Secretary David Lammy said he was implementing the "strongest release checks that have ever been in place". However, since then, details have emerged of two more prisoners being wrongly let out. It is always perilous for a government when it clearly lacks grip on an issue voters would reasonably expect it to be in control of. The stand out example of this in recent years has been the arrival of migrants on small boats. From Rishi Sunak's promise to "stop the boats" to Sir Keir Starmer's promise to "smash the gangs" both have been found wanting and the problem remains huge. Now the government confronts another example: a justice system that is palpably, transparently and repeatedly failing ? and where measures designed to address the issue of letting prisoners out by accident aren't working. According to government figures published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March of this year - a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months. In other words, it has been a problem for some time, and it is getting worse. And, context is everything in politics: this row now comes after the mistaken release of perhaps the most high-profile prisoner jailed this year.

Hadush Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was jailed after sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel in Epping in Essex, only to be let out by accident. He has since been deported. It gave the issue of accidental releases from prison a salience and prominence it hadn't had until then. Once again, we are seeing ministers use the language we usually see from opposition politicians. The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has described the number of people arriving on small boats as "shameful". Now, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy is saying he is "absolutely outraged" over the mistaken release a week ago of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian sex offender. Lammy added that his officials have been "working through the night to take him back to prison." Which brings us to the messy genesis of this saga, at B-Team Prime Minister's Question Time on Wednesday lunchtime.