A fraudster mistakenly released from prison this week has handed himself back into HMP Wandsworth, in southwest London, Surrey police said.
William Smith, 35, usually known as Billy Smith, was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences by video link from Croydon crown court on Monday, but was then released in error by the prison.
A clerical mistake by the court led to the prison being told it was a suspended sentence, which meant he no longer had to be detained. The court corrected the error but HMP Wandsworth was not informed.
Surrey police mounted a manhunt for him because of his links to Woking. It is understood Smith turned up at the gates of HMP Wandsworth and handed himself back into custody.
He had last been seen wearing a navy jumper with a white Nike logo on the front, navy tracksuit bottoms with a white Nike logo on the left pocket, and black trainers, police had said.
An Algerian sex offender, Ibrahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, who was released from Wandsworth by mistake last week, remains at large.
The Met police, who are hunting him, were only told about his release on Tuesday and have expressed frustration over his “six-day head start”.
The number of prisoners released by mistake has more than doubled in one year, official figures show.
In the year to March, 262 were freed in error, compared with 115 the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Justice.
Prison sources say the overcrowding crisis is partly to blame for the sharp increase in “releases in error” – the official description for the mistakes.
Justice secretary David Lammy, who is under political pressure over the mistaken releases, 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.”
