Escaped prisoner William Smith released by mistake sparking UK manhunt is back in prison
William Smith, 35, who goes by the name Billy, handed himself in three days after being released in error by staff at HMP Wandsworth - he enjoyed a cigarette before being led back inside
Image: Jeremy Selwyn)
An inmate who was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth said 'I'm the prisoner they're looking for' as he handed himself in this morning.
Convicted fraudster Billy Smith, 35, walked into the front doors of the Victorian prison wearing a blue Nike tracksuit shortly after 10.30am after being dropped off in a flat bed truck.
On Monday, police launched a huge manhunt after Smith was released in error only hours after being sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences. He had appeared at Croydon Crown Court via live video link from the prison, but was later freed by mistake.
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Jeremy Selwyn)Today, photographs showed Smith flanked by prison officers after he handed himself in.
Before giving himself up, Smith was seen hugging a crying woman who was sitting the van that dropped him off.
He was then heard saying: “I’m the prisoner they’re looking for. I’m about to hand myself in.”
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Jeremy Selwyn)He stepped into the doors and identified himself before enjoying a cigarette outside while two male officers stood beside him.
Smith, of Woking, Surrey, appeared to be arguing with one of the two officers before finishing his cigarette and being led back inside the jail.
An onlooker said: “It looked like there was some confusion at first about who he was and what he was there for.
“It was hard to tell but it looked like he was having to argue his case to go back inside!
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Surrey Police)“He came in and out of the prison doors more than once while standing on the steps.
“A female guard gave him a lighter to spark up his cigarette and he stood smoking it. He seemed relaxed. It looked like he was trying to savour his last moments of freedom before going back inside.”
A third man wearing a suit took a bag Smith had been carrying before walking away with it, before another guard was later heard calling out to a colleague: "One of the prisoners who was wrongly released has just come back in".
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PA)A separate manhunt remains under way for an Algerian convicted sex offender who was wrongly released from prison last week. Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was serving a sentence at HMP Wandsworth in south-west London for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously also been convicted for indecent exposure.
He was freed from the jail, which was put into special measures last year, on October 29, but the mistake was only reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, the force said.
Speaking this morning, Justice Secretary David Lammy said: “William Smith is back in custody. The spike in mistaken releases is unacceptable.
“We’re modernising prison systems – replacing paper with digital tools to cut errors.
“We’re working with police to recapture Brahim Kaddour-Cherif.”
It came as Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said prison chiefs were being summoned for a meeting on Thursday and a team of digital experts had been tasked with overhauling the “archaic” paper-based system of prisoner records.
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