David Lammy‘s jails farce deepened tonight after it emerged a prisoner who was wrongly released committed a new offence while free.
The unnamed 34-year-old offender was let out of jail by mistake on Monday last week and later arrested for stalking a woman.
Mr Lammy’s Ministry of Justice refused to comment on the case, and had earlier dodged questions about whether the man had reoffended after being let out.
On Tuesday the Deputy Prime Minister revealed officials were still trying to establish whether the offender was on the loose after being freed on November 3.
It was confirmed on Wednesday that he had been wrongly freed, but had been detained overnight by Leicestershire Police, eight days after being mistakenly let out.
Tory frontbencher Robert Jenrick, who has dubbed the missing prisoners ‘Lammy’s lags’, said it was a ‘disgrace’ that the gaffe had led to a new crime being committed.
Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy gave a statement in the House of Commons on the prisons shambles on Tuesday
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said it was a ‘disgrace’ that a wrongly-freed inmate had gone on to commit a new crime, adding that Labour’s prisons farce was putting the public at risk
The Shadow Justice Secretary said: ‘A prisoner who escaped Lammy’s ‘strongest ever checks’ has been charged with stalking hours later.
‘A disgrace. People are being put at risk by this crisis.
‘How many screw-ups have there been that David Lammy isn’t telling us about?’
He added: ‘This is shocking but it’s not surprising.
‘David Lammy must now come clean about how many other prisoners have been charged for alleged crimes while they’ve been on the run.’
The prisoner who was re-arrested in Leicestershire faces a Crown court trial next year for offences including coercive control, intentional strangulation and common assault, the Sun reported.
It is not known whether he was wrongly freed after being remanded or part-way through a separate sentence.
Mr Lammy faced a grilling from MP on Tuesday, a week after brazenly dodging questions on the bungles.
He told the Commons 91 prisoners had been let out by mistake in just seven months.
They were in addition to 262 releases in error from prison in the year to March, of whom 87 were of offenders whose main offence was violence against a person, and three whose main offence was a sexual offence, MPs heard.
Three prisoners are still on the loose – two British nationals and a foreign national.
The first was in jail for failure to surrender to the police before being freed in December 2024.
The second was in prison for a Class B drug offence until being released in August 2024. The third was in prison for aggravated burglary and released in error in June 2025.
The problems first surfaced after Epping migrant hotel resident and sex offender Hadush Kebatu was let out of HMP Chelmsford on October 24 and arrested in north London after a two-day manhunt. It was followed by further cases.
The Deputy PM was heavily criticised for his evasive performance while standing in for Keir Starmer at PMQs last week.
Mr Lammy was branded a ‘clown’ by opponents after refusing to answer directly whether another foreign offender had been let out by mistake – only for the truth to be confirmed minutes later.
He also compounded the confusion by suggesting he had spent the morning out suit shopping instead of dealing with the crisis.
