Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy is facing intense criticism after defending his decision not to reveal that a second prisoner had been mistakenly released, despite being questioned repeatedly on the issue in Parliament.
PMQs Evasion and Subsequent Defence
During a tense Prime Minister's Questions session on Wednesday, Conservative MPs asked Mr Lammy five times if another prisoner had been erroneously freed, following the mistaken release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu on 24 October.
Mr Lammy gave an irate reply but refused to confirm any knowledge of a second case. However, it later emerged that Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian registered sex offender, had been released in error the previous week.
A day later, the Justice Secretary defended his silence, stating he did not want to mislead the House of Commons or the public. "I did not have all of the details," Mr Lammy explained. "That detail was actually released just later after I had finished at Prime Minister's Questions."
He argued that he took the judgment that it was crucial to be fully informed before updating the nation on such serious matters, stating, "I was not equipped with all of the detail, and the danger is that you end up misleading the House and the general public."
Conflicting Timeline of Events
Mr Lammy stated he first learned of Kaddour-Cherif's release on Wednesday morning and spent the hours before PMQs at the Ministry of Justice preparing for his debut standing in for Sir Keir Starmer.
However, his account has raised significant questions regarding the timeline of events. On 27 October, Mr Lammy announced that "the strongest release checks that have ever been in place" were being introduced immediately in reaction to Kebatu's accidental release.
Despite this assurance, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was released on 29 October, two days after the new checks were supposedly implemented. Prison authorities did not alert the Metropolitan Police until Monday, and the sex offender remains at large.
In a further development, a third prisoner, Billy Smith, was also mistakenly released on Tuesday. He handed himself in on Thursday, just hours after his case was made public following PMQs.
Ongoing Fallout and Public Scrutiny
The series of errors and the Justice Secretary's handling of the disclosure have triggered a political storm. The Ministry of Justice is now under pressure to provide a clear and coherent timeline of events.
Sky News has formally requested clarification from the department regarding the apparent contradiction between the implementation of new safety checks and the subsequent mistaken releases.
This incident marks a challenging start for Mr Lammy in his dual role as Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, casting doubt on the effectiveness of newly instituted prison release protocols designed to prevent such critical failures.
