Police have launched a manhunt after another prison is released by mistake.
William Wenham was serving a two-year sentence and waiting to face trial for an offence of aggravated burglary when he was released in error from HMP Rochester on Tuesday June 3 this year.
Wenham was convicted of burglary with intent to steal in his absence in Cambridge Crown Court on Friday October 3 2025.
Sussex Police say the 47-year-old has connection to Havant, Worthing, Brighton, Peterborough, and the surrounding area.
This is just the most recent incident of a criminal being wrongly released from prison early.
William Wenham was serving a two-year sentence and waiting to face trial for an offence of aggravated burglary when he was released in error from HMP Rochester on Tuesday June 3 this year
Last month, Epping migrant sex attacker Hadush Kebatu was released by mistake from Chelmsford.
Kebatu was then arrested in Finsbury Park following a two-day manhunt.
Last week, it was revealed that two prisoners who were released by mistake in 2024 are still at large.
A further two inmates are also on the run after being released in error in June this year, bringing the total to four.
A fifth prisoner, Nigerian national Ola Abimbola, also remains at large after allegedly walking out of the open prison HMP Ford on October 10.
Meanwhile, Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was finally re-arrested last Friday after mistakenly being released from HMP Wandsworth nine days ago, sparking a huge police manhunt.
The 24-year-old, who had been serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal and had a previous conviction for indecent exposure, was snared by cops after a tip-off from a member of the public.
He was detained by officers in Finsbury Park, the same area where sex attack migrant Hadush Kebatu was arrested two weeks earlier, following yet another error that saw him released by mistake.
In another embarrassing gaffe, an unnamed 34-year-old offender who was let out of jail by mistake on Monday November 3 and later arrested for stalking a woman.
The Deputy PM and Justice Secretary David Lammy on Tuesday 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.
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.’
This is the breaking news story, more to follow.
