David Lammy Says He Made "Right Judgement" Not Telling PMQs About Accidental Prison Release
3 min read
Justice Secretary David Lammy has defended his decision not to answer questions about a wrongly-released prisoner during PMQs on Wednesday, saying he did not have "all of the detail".
Lammy, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said on Thursday that he felt he risked misleading the House of Commons if he had spoken about the case without a full understanding.
Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian sex offender, who is understood to have arrived in the UK legally but overstayed his visa, remains at large at the time of writing after accidentally being released from Wandsworth prison in south London in late October.
William Smith, 35, who was jailed for fraud on Monday but mistakenly released from the same prison that day, has handed himself back to the police.
The two cases follow the accidental release of sex offender Hadush Kebatu in October from HMP Chelmsford.
Deputising for Prime Minister Keir Starmer in PMQs on Wednesday, Lammy refused to answer when Tory shadow cabinet minister James Cartlidge asked five times whether an asylum seeker had accidentally been released from prison.
The Met Police then confirmed that a foreign offender, who is not an asylum seeker, had been accidentally released from prison on Wednesday last week.
Speaking to reporters today, Lammy defended his decision not to disclose details to MPs, saying that he was “not equipped” with all of the information when asked by the Conservatives at PMQs.
“I first found out about this on Wednesday morning. I was in the department, both learning from officials, but also preparing for Prime Minister's Questions," he said.
“At the despatch box, I did not have all of the detail. That detail was actually released just later, after I had finished at Prime Minister's Questions. I took the judgment that it is important when updating the House and the country about serious matters like this that you have all of the detail.
"I was not equipped with all of the detail, and the danger is that you end up misleading the House and the general public. So, that is the judgment I took.
"I think it's the right judgment.”
The Justice Secretary claimed that Kaddour-Cherif was released before the recent introduction of stronger checks in prisons following the case of Kebatu.
This particular claim will likely create further questions about the government's handling of the case. Lammy said on 27 October, two days before Kaddour-Cherif's accidental release, that the additional checks would take immediate effect.
Lammy continued: "[The] truth is, I've been in post two months.
"The rate of release by error is too high. It has to come down.
"That's why I've asked Dame Lynn Owens to look at this, former deputy Met Commissioner, to review this and come back to me as quickly as she's able to do."
He said the prison system was in “crisis” and it was a priority of the government to “bear down” on this problem.
