A migrant sex offender mistakenly released from prison taunted David Lammy over the justice crisis as he was arrested following a manhunt.

Algerian Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was detained in Islington, North London, after being let out from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, October 29.

He initially denied being the wanted fugitive, before goading ministers about criminals being mistakenly released as he was put in the back of a police van.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick accused Mr Lammy, the Justice Secretary, of “hiding an even bigger scandal”.

Kaddour-Cherif declared, in broken English as he was arrested in Finsbury Park, North London, “Look at the justice of the UK.

“They release people by mistake. After this they ‘ah ah ah’. It’s not my f****** fault. They released me. They told me ‘you are released’.”

Footage of the 24-year-old’s arrest, captured by Sky News, showed him initially standing by the passenger window of a police van before officers arrested him, as a small group of people gathered on the pavement to watch – with some filming the scene on their phones.

Wearing a grey hoodie, black beanie and black backpack, he denied that he was “Brahim” and, when asked if he knew him, said: “Everyone knows him he’s in (the) news.”

Police began to handcuff his hands in front of him, telling him: “You’re going to be placed under arrest on suspicion of being wanted… because you look identical to the person released from custody.

“We’re arresting you to prevent your disappearance from location and to prevent any further harm to individuals by your release.”

Police brought him to the back of the van and held up an image of Kaddour-Cherif next to his face before un-cuffing and re-cuffing his hands behind his back. Officers searched his backpack and found a laptop, umbrella and wallet.

Before he was put in the back of the van, he turned to those gathered and said: “Look at the justice of the UK they release people by mistake after this they ‘ah ah ah’, it’s not my f****** fault.”

Kaddour-Cherif, a serial offender accused of thefts, assaults and indecent exposure, was mistakenly released because a court warrant for him to be remanded in custody was sent to the wrong prison, HMP Pentonville.

It comes after Epping sex attack migrant Hadush Kebatu was let out of HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported.

Mr Jenrick said: “That’s one down – where are the other 262 prisoners accidentally released last year?

“And how many prisoners have been accidentally released this year?

“David Lammy is hiding an even bigger scandal.”

The scandal has rocked Sir Keir Starmer’s Government, with Cabinet members criticising Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed dismissed claims of rifts, branding it “tittle tattle”.

But Mr Lammy is facing mounting pressure over the number of violent and sexual offenders who have been released by mistake.

New figures revealed the number of violent criminals mistakenly released from prison surged from nine in 2023/24 to 87 in the year to March 2025.

Ministry of Justice data revealed three sex offenders were wrongly let out.

The number of burglars or thieves wrongly let out trebled to 52, as did those jailed for possession of weapons, which rose from five to 18.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said: “I can confirm Brahim Kaddour-Cherif has been recaptured and is back in custody.

“My thanks are with the police and staff at HMPPS who have been working around the clock.

“We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing.

“I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.

“That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”

Fury is rising within Government over the Justice Secretary’s bungled responses to the furore.

One Cabinet minister accused Mr Lammy of “cowardly” behaviour, adding the Ministry of Justice’s “handling” of the crisis had been “terrible”.

Mr Jenrick added: “David Lammy refused to provide the information.

“We now know the number of violent prisoners accidentally released has exploded in the last year. It begs the question: what else is he hiding?

“This fiasco is entirely of Labour’s making. As the former chief inspector of prisons has said, this has been caused in part by Labour’s disastrous early release scheme. Calamity Lammy is completely out of his depth and has no plan to fix it.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, speaking in Brazil, defended Mr Lammy by stating he was “setting out the facts to the best of his knowledge”.

One cabinet minister said of Lammy’s behaviour: “It’s cowardly. He should have fronted up and owned it. I still don’t understand why he didn’t confirm it or make a statement in the Commons. He left it to a junior minister to do the broadcast round this morning. The handling is terrible.”

Another minister said: “The PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] are deeply unhappy. They think the way he has handled this is awful.”

A senior government source said: “It feels less like a contempt [of parliament] issue, more just rank incompetence and frankly pretty dodgy.”

Housing Secretary Steve Reed dismissed criticism of Mr Lammy from fellow ministers as “anonymous tittle tattle”.

He told Times Radio: “The problem is we’ve got a broken system, and you are going to see failings when you have a broken system.

“The key is to make sure we have a digital system so that no prisoner is ever released by mistake.

“There is not an acceptable number for this, but the way to fix it is not tittle tattle about David Lammy in the newspapers, it’s to get on and do the work and put in the investment that will digitise the system.

“David has already had the prison governors in his office yesterday, I imagine they felt pretty hauled over the coals given what’s been going on, but he was also making sure that they’re getting all the support they need to carry out the much tougher checks that will be required to make sure that the repeats of this are at an absolute minimum.”