Another inmate from HMP Wandsworth has allegedly gone on the run, this time after being temporarily released to attend his brother’s wedding. Police have launched a manhunt for 32-year-old Palestine Action protester Sean Middleborough after he failed to return to the Category B prison.
Middleborough had been on remand over an alleged plot by members of the protest group to disrupt the London Stock Exchange by chaining themselves to the building’s entrances. He was later charged with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance between last November and January.
According to reports, prison officers granted him temporary bail so he could attend his brother’s wedding, but he never came back. His disappearance adds to a growing list of embarrassing blunders in the prison system.
Days earlier, Algerian s3x offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was mistakenly released from Wandsworth before being arrested again on Friday. Footage from Sky News captured him challenging officers about the error, shouting that he had been “released illegally” and telling them to “do your job.”
Another inmate, 35-year-old Billy Smith, also freed by mistake, surrendered himself on Thursday. Photos showed him calmly walking back into Wandsworth, hands in his pockets, flanked by prison staff.
These incidents follow the high-profile mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu, a migrant convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old girl, who walked free from HMP Chelmsford instead of being transferred to an immigration removal centre. He was recaptured two days later.
Justice Secretary David Lammy has been facing mounting pressure as the errors pile up. He praised the police and prison service for working tirelessly to recapture the wrongly released inmates but expressed frustration with the system, saying his department “inherited a prison system in crisis.” He has ordered tougher release checks and launched an independent investigation into systemic failures, including outdated paper-based processes that are still used in parts of the prison estate.
During his temporary bail, Middleborough gave an interview to Declassified UK, where he hinted at the possibility of returning to jail but also spoke about standing in solidarity with fellow activists through a hunger strike if necessary. He joked about telling his son the real reason he was in London, saying it was not “by request of the King,” but by the decision of “the King’s Government to hold me in captivity.”
A government spokesperson has since reiterated that bail decisions are made independently by judges, not ministers. They stressed that absconding is a serious criminal offense that carries additional prison time and urged anyone with information on Middleborough’s whereabouts to contact the police immediately.
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