Justice Secretary David Lammy has faced intense scrutiny and calls to "stop digging and come clean" amidst a growing scandal involving the accidental release of foreign and violent sex offenders from prison. The controversy escalated after a second foreign criminal was mistakenly set free, just days after Lammy had pledged to implement the "strongest release checks ever."

The immediate backlash followed the accidental release of Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif from Wandsworth prison in south-west London. This incident came shortly after a national outcry over the mistaken release last month of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu. Adding to the list, fraudster William Smith was also wrongly released from the same jail, though he later handed himself back in.

Mr. Lammy faced significant criticism for repeatedly dodging questions in the Commons about his knowledge of any other accidental releases, particularly concerning "asylum-seeking offenders." He insisted he had not been "equipped with all of the detail" on Kaddour-Cherif's case when he stood in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick vehemently dismissed this explanation, labeling it "total bull****" and accusing Lammy of either lying or being completely out of touch with his department. Jenrick further stated, "Every time Calamity Lammy intervenes, he makes things worse. It's time he stopped digging and finally came clean with the facts."

Adding to the confusion, Mr. Lammy’s statements regarding the timing of Kaddour-Cherif’s release conflicted with his earlier pronouncements. Kaddour-Cherif was accidentally released on October 29, two days after Lammy had announced "strongest release checks ever" with "immediate effect." Bizarrely, Lammy later claimed the release occurred "actually before I introduced those checks," while Whitehall sources suggested the mistakes leading to the release took place in September.

The situation intensified with revelations that 90 violent or sex offenders have been mistakenly released from prison in the last year, marking the highest number on record and an eight-fold increase from the 11 freed in error the previous year. Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data revealed that the number of violent offenders wrongly released surged from nine in 2023/2024 to 87 in the year to March 2025. Similarly, three sex offenders were mistakenly freed, up from two the prior year. Releases of thieves or burglars rose from 17 to 52, and those for possession of weapons increased from five to 18.

Despite acknowledging he had a "mountain to climb" to address the prisons crisis, Mr. Lammy, on a visit to HMP Gartree where he helped break ground on a new prison expansion project named HMP Welland Oaks, insisted he could not be blamed for the recent spate of accidental releases. He attributed the fault to years of Tory "austerity" and a "paper-based system that depends on human beings, not technology," which he noted was "subject to human error" and currently "overheating." He complained he had been in post for only two months and was informed of Kaddour-Cherif's release a day later than officials had previously briefed.

The political criticism extended to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who accused Lammy of "incompetence and dysfunction" and suggesting he misled the House. Former Tory justice secretary Michael Gove questioned Lammy's ability to command confidence in the justice system. While some Labour MPs found Lammy's handling "shockingly bad," Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell defended him, citing a "learning curve" for new ministers. The Liberal Democrats called for Parliament to be recalled to demand a full statement from Lammy on the timeline of events.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended his Justice Secretary, stating it was "right" that Lammy was "setting out the facts to the best of his knowledge." However, Starmer also expressed his own "anger and frustration" over the "intolerable" mistakes, attributing "a lot of it" to the "burden and the strain on the system because of the failures of the last government." He acknowledged Labour's responsibility to fix the issue and announced that an independent inquiry would be launched to investigate what went wrong and ensure such mistakes do not happen again. Mr. Lammy vowed to "leave no stone unturned" to fix the problem, stating he was "as shocked as anyone" at the amount of mistaken prison releases.