A convicted sex offender mistakenly released from Wandsworth prison has been recaptured in north London.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian national, was wrongly freed from the south London jail on 29 October. He was arrested on Friday morning in Finsbury Park after being spotted by a member of the public near Capital City College on Blackstock Road.
When approached by Sky News reporters, Kaddour-Cherif initially denied his identity, claiming to be someone else. Police officers then confronted him next to a van and confirmed his identity by comparing his face to an arrest photo, noting his “distinctive wonky nose.”
Footage showed Kaddour-Cherif shouting at bystanders as he was handcuffed. “It’s not my f***ing fault,” he yelled, blaming the prison for his mistaken release.
The Metropolitan Police said they received the tip-off at 11:23 a.m. and detained Kaddour-Cherif at 11:30 a.m. “His identity was confirmed and he was arrested for being unlawfully at large,” a police spokesperson said. “He was also arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker in relation to a previous unrelated incident.”
Authorities have not explained why it took six days for the Prison Service to notify police that Kaddour-Cherif had been wrongly released.
Kaddour-Cherif entered the UK legally but overstayed his visa, and deportation proceedings were underway. He was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2023, placed on the sex offenders register for five years, and later jailed in June for possessing a knife.
His mistaken release came just five days after another convicted sex offender, Hadush Kebatu, was also wrongly freed from Wandsworth. Both men were eventually rearrested in Finsbury Park.
