A prisoner mistakenly freed from a London prison earlier this week has been found after a three-day manhunt.
William Smith, also known as Billy, was sentenced to four years in jail after being convicted of multiple fraud offences on Monday.
But the 35-year-old fraudster was freed from HMP Wandsworth in the affluent south London suburb that same day.
Smith, of Woking, Surrey, was photographed at 10.03am today being dropped off in a flat bed truck outside the prison gates.
Smith then hugged his partner inside the van, smoked a cigarette and flashed a smile at the cameras waiting outside the prison gates, according to footage obtained by ITV News.
He clarified to the broadcaster that police had not found him and he was handing himself back in.
The convicted fraudster reportedly was freed due to a mix-up with his surname – he has the same surname as his co-defendant.
Joseph Smith attended court in person on Monday and was handed a suspended sentence – he wouldn’t have to spend any time behind bars.
William, meanwhile, attended via video uplink and was given a custodial sentence.
But officials put his sentence as a suspended one, rather than a custodial one, on their digital system, meaning William was mistakenly released, according to The Mirror.
Officials realised their mistake, but it was already too late to correct it.
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Police said Smith could have been ‘anywhere’ in Surrey when the authorities first revealed he was at large.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian man, was also freed last Wednesday from HMP Wandsworth.
Haddour-Cherif, who also goes by Ibrahim, was convicted last year of indecent exposure relating to an incident in March that year.
Kaddour-Cherif is still on the run.
His most recent time behind bars was for trespass with intent to steal.
Metro understands he appeared in court on a charge of failing to comply with sex offender requirements.
Metro also understands that Kaddour-Cherif is not an asylum seeker and entered the UK legally on a visitor’s visa in 2019 but overstayed.
He was in the process of being deported when he was accidentally freed from prison.
His release came just five days after sex offender Hadush Kebatu was released by mistake from HMP Chelmsford, Essex.
The Ministry of Justice told Metro: ‘Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of a justice system crisis inherited by this Government.
‘We have introduced mandatory, stronger prisoner release checks to keep our streets safe and protect the public as well as investing record amounts into our courts – including to improve operational assurance.
‘But we are clear that these mistakes must not continue to happen, which is why the Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced an independent investigation to look at the serious issue of releases in error across the prison estate.’
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