Lammy ‘outraged’ after new blunder sees another foreign inmate freed by mistake
David Lammy refused to confirm whether any other criminal asylum seekers have been “accidentally released from prison” - just moments before police announced that another convicted sex offender is on the loose.
The Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister lost his composure during a grilling in the Commons after being asked five times whether any further incidents of this sort have occurred since the three-day manhunt for Hadush Kebatu last month.
The migrant was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex, while living in an asylum hotel, but was mistakenly released by prison staff.
Mr. Lammy refused to answer the question and instead criticized the Tories, telling his opposite number to "get a grip" during the heated session of Prime Minister’s Questions.
This happened just moments before police revealed another manhunt is underway for a second foreign criminal who has been at large for a week after he, too, was wrongly released from prison.
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, challenged Mr. Lammy: “He’s the Justice Secretary.
“He’s responsible for the justice system, he needs to take responsibility and I’m asking him a straightforward question, and I’m going to repeat it once more for clarity, because he didn’t answer it twice.
“Can he reassure the house that, since Kebatu was released, no other asylum-seeking offender has been accidentally released from prison?”
Mr. Lammy launched a panicked attack on the opposition with his flustered response as he attempted to deflect the question.
“Get a grip man. I know I’m the Justice Secretary. That’s why I’m at the dispatch box,” he said.
He added that Kebatu’s accidental release is already being investigated and pointed out that there were mistaken releases that occurred under Mr. Cartlidge’s watch when he was justice minister, for which he has never apologized.
He went on to accuse the Conservatives of leaving the prison system “in a mess,” adding that he, as Justice Secretary, has tightened prison security in the wake of the mistake.
“Of course, we know that there have been spikes since 2021 under his watch. When did he come to this House and apologize?”
But the grilling came as police admitted that a 24-year-old Algerian man is on the loose after being wrongly released, in a humiliating development for the Justice Secretary.
The Algerian man, 24, was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday last week. The Metropolitan Police was only informed at lunchtime on Tuesday this week.
The man’s name has not been released but he is understood to have been previously convicted of sex offences. A Met Police spokesperson said: “Shortly after 13:00hrs on Tuesday, 4 November, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, 29 October.
Mr. Lammy later said in a statement: “I am absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police.
"The Metropolitan Police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to capture him and return him to prison.
“Victims deserve better and the public deserves answers. That is why I have already implemented the strongest checks ever to prevent such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens, to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long.
“This latest incident exposes deeper flaws across the failing criminal justice system we inherited. Dame Lynne Owens’ investigation will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues, so we can fix them, improve safeguards and ensure the public is properly protected.”
World Affairs Correspondent
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