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Sir Keir Starmer has said David Lammy “set out the facts” on mistaken prisoner releases “to the best of his knowledge” amid questions over what the justice secretary knew and when.
Speaking for the first time since it emerged two prisoners were wrongly freed from HMP Wandsworth, the prime minister also said the situation was “intolerable” and that he was “angry and frustrated”.
The Met Police announced on Wednesday afternoon that registered sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian national, had been released in error on 29 October. He is still at large.
A few hours later it was revealed another prisoner, 35-year-old William “Billy” Smith, had been wrongly released on Monday – the same day he was convicted for multiple fraud offences and handed a 45-month jail term. He has since handed himself in.
Asked how the public can have confidence in the justice system, Sir Keir said: “Let me just say how angry and frustrated I am that these mistakes have been made in releasing people. They’re intolerable, and they shouldn’t be made.
“A lot of it comes from the burden and the strain on the system because of the failures of the last government. But I recognise it’s our job to step up and to fix this.”
Sir Keir went on to defend Mr Lammy’s handing of the saga, which comes a week on from the mistaken release of Ethiopian sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who has since been deported.
Mr Lammy declared on 27 October that stronger prison checks in light of the Kebatu fiasco would come into force immediately.
But on Thursday, he said those checks were not in place when Kaddour-Cherif was released two days later.
Asked whether he was being truthful last week or on Thursday, Sir Keir said: “David Lammy can speak for himself on that.
“I’m absolutely clear that he’s setting out the facts, to the best of his knowledge and that’s the right thing for him to do.
“But whatever the checks, it’s intolerable. So, we have to make sure that whatever changes are needed are…
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