A man who was mistakenly released from prison earlier this week has voluntarily returned to custody, bringing relief to authorities following a nationwide search.
William “Billy” Smith, 35, handed himself in to HMP Wandsworth three days after being wrongly freed. He had been sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court but was erroneously released due to a paperwork mix-up. The error occurred when the court mistakenly informed the prison that Smith’s custodial sentence was suspended. A correction was later issued but was sent to the wrong recipient, allowing Smith to leave the facility before the mistake was rectified.
After a brief manhunt, Smith turned himself in on Thursday, November 6. Video footage captured him smiling and waving as he approached the prison gates, where he was seen speaking with staff before re-entering the facility. Police have since cancelled the appeal for his arrest.
Meanwhile, efforts are ongoing to locate another prisoner, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who was also mistakenly released from the same prison on October 29. Authorities believe he remains in London, with known links to Tower Hamlets and Westminster. The public has been urged to contact police immediately if he is spotted.
Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian national awaiting deportation, was serving time for trespass with intent to steal and had prior convictions for indecent exposure. His release came just days after another incident involving the mistaken release of a migrant sex offender from a separate facility in Essex, raising serious concerns about prison management systems.
Government officials have acknowledged growing public frustration over repeated administrative failures. The Justice Secretary described the spike in mistaken releases as unacceptable and emphasized that modernization efforts are underway to replace outdated paper-based systems with digital recordkeeping tools.
A meeting between prison chiefs and justice ministers has been convened to address the issue, with a team of digital experts assigned to overhaul the current system. The Prison Governors Association admitted that such errors are “neither rare nor hidden,” but warned that the frequency of these incidents is deeply troubling.
Data indicates that 262 prisoners were released in error in the year leading up to March 2025, underscoring the urgent need for reform across the UK’s prison administration network.
