Mistakenly freed intercourse offender jailed once more for biting cops | EUROtoday

A convicted intercourse offender, who beforehand sparked a nationwide manhunt after being mistakenly free of jail, has been jailed for 26 weeks for punching and biting two cops.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian asylum seeker, gained nationwide consideration final November after his mistaken launch from HMP Wandsworth. The blunder highlighted a regarding rise in unintended inmate releases, sparking a authorities disaster and pledges for more durable safety measures.

At the time of his launch, Kaddour-Cherif confronted three energetic legal circumstances and was below investigation for a fourth, regardless of a decide’s particular order for his custody.

At Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Kaddour-Cherif was sentenced to 26 weeks in jail for assaulting two cops at Blackhorse Road Underground station, east London, on July 20.

Pc Bradley Glynn had been off-duty on a prepare when he observed Kaddour-Cherif taking a cell phone from a Tube passenger who had fallen asleep.

The police officer snatched the handset out of Kaddour-Cherif’s pocket and handed it again to the proprietor, then ordered the would-be thief to go away the prepare.

Prosecutor Kevin Kendridge mentioned Pc Glynn noticed Kaddour-Cherif depart the prepare however stand subsequent to the doorways on the platform, suggesting he was planning to get again on once more.

“He shouted the word ‘thief’ to attack attention, hoping the defendant would go away,” mentioned Mr Kendridge.

“(Kaddour-Cherif) punched him to the left side of his head with a closed fist, and the off-duty officer punched the defendant back.”

The court docket heard Pc Jason Norton, who was on obligation on the station, joined the scuffle to defend Mr Glynn as Kaddour-Cherif threw a number of punches.

“Together they tried to take control of the defendant, but he managed to punch Pc Glynn again and also bite him,” mentioned the prosecutor.

“He slammed Pc Norton against a wall and dug his face into Pc Norton’s arm, at which point the officer shouted ‘don’t bite me’.”

The court docket was proven photos of chew marks left on one of many officer’s arms, whereas Pc Norton informed the court docket he had been left distressed and fearing he might have contracted an sickness.

At a listening to earlier in January, Kaddour-Cherif pleaded responsible to 2 fees of assaulting an emergency employee, however insisted he had not identified on the time that the 2 males have been cops.

Magistrate Elizabeth Robb imposed a sentence of 26 weeks in jail on Kaddour-Cherif, and likewise ordered him to pay £154 in compensation to the cops he had attacked.

“It was a serious assault in both cases, prolonged and quite nasty,” she mentioned.

Appearing over a videolink from HMP Pentonville, Kaddour-Cherif launched right into a rant in regards to the characterisation of his crimes, and accused his personal lawyer of not studying out an announcement he had ready.

“How could I fight two guys? It was two on one. I’m not that strong,” he mentioned. “They are lying.”

Kaddour-Cherif additionally claimed that he has been attacked and stabbed in jail.

Kaddour-Cherif has been overstaying his visa within the UK since 2020, and he has now racked up a string of legal convictions together with a previous incident of assaulting an emergency employee.

In November 2024, he grew to become a registered intercourse offender after he was convicted of exposing himself in a London park.

His unintended launch from jail occurred on October 29 2025, after Kaddour-Cherif had been discovered not responsible of breaching the necessities of the intercourse offenders register.

Prison authorities let him go with out realising that he was presupposed to be held in custody to await a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court for burgling a storage in Orford Road, Walthamstow, east London, to steal bikes on January 6 2024.

The blunder was solely found when court docket officers tried to rearrange a jail videolink for a listening to in early November final yr, solely to be informed that he had gone.

When he was let out, Kaddour-Cherif was additionally awaiting trial for carrying a knife in Burntwood Road, Earlswood, south-west London on November 13 2023, and he had simply been charged with dealing with stolen items referring to the financial institution playing cards of two ladies.

Kaddour-Cherif was re-arrested by Metropolitan Police officers on November 7 2025, close to to Finsbury Park after a tip-off from a member of the general public.

After being returned to custody, Kaddour-Cherif, who lives in Whitechapel, east London, pleaded responsible to the housebreaking and knife offences, in addition to failing to give up to a court docket, and he was sentenced on Tuesday this week to 188 days in jail.

The court docket in Highbury was informed that Kaddour-Cherif has already served that sentence, however is now in Home Office custody on the jail and because of be questioned once more about his asylum declare.

Kaddour-Cherif was beforehand taken into immigration custody final June as his legal offending was growing, however he was swiftly let out from the detention centre on bail.

He has denied the cost of dealing with stolen items, and is because of stand trial subsequent month at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.