Nearly 200 criminals released from prison by mistake as Labour slammed for leaving 98% of victims in dark

Nearly 200 criminals were released from prison by mistake between April last year to March as Labour has been slammed for leaving 98 per cent of victims in the dark. Only three victims involved in the cases of 179 mistakenly released prisoners were notified of the Prison Services's error. An official report published in April showed there were 179 cases of inmates being let go early. Of the 179, there were 14 victims who were on the Probation Service's Victim Contact Scheme (VCS), which gives those impacted by a serious and violent crime the right to receive information about the offender, but only three were given notice of the mistake, the Daily Mail reports. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say The data was obtained by the Conservatives through a Freedom of Information request. Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said Labour had broken the trust victims place in the criminal justice system. He said: David Lammy offered what he called an unequivocal apology for his erroneous release scandal. It was not worth the paper it was written on.Victims of crime place their trust in the system to treat them with basic dignity, to tell them, at minimum, when the person who wronged them has been let out of prison by accident. Labour have broken that trust.At the time of the report's publication, Mr Lammy said in a statement to the Commons: We recognise the distress that is caused to victims who learn that the person who harmed them is free when they should be behind bars.I give an unequivocal apology to all who have faced worry or worse as a result of releases in error.The report was sparked by the accidental release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford in October last year.He was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in July last year and handed a 12-month prison sentence. LATEST DEVELOPMENTSNet Zero 'madness' destroying jobs as union turns on Labour and likens party to Margaret ThatcherIsrael launches retaliatory strikes on Iran in defiance of Donald Trump as ceasefire pushed to brinkKeir Starmer set to impose internet restrictions on millions of Britons within daysThe crimes took place whilst the asylum seeker was living at the Bell Hotel in Epping. However, he was mistakenly released and from the Essex prison which triggered a major manhunt across the capital and south east. Police found the Ethiopian national in Finsbury Park and apprehended him. The teenage victim discovered her perpetrator had been erroneously released via social media - she was informed by the authorities hours later. Her father called the error unbelievably irresponsible.Accidental prisoner releases are neither rare or hidden, the Prisoner Governors' Association said and have occurred under every Government's watch.However, releases in error have significantly increased since 2023. The average number of accidental prisoner releases between 2006-07 to 2022-23 was 56.4 per year. Since then, this figure has increased by 228 per cent, with the average for 2023-24 to 2025-26 being 185.3 per year.In April Dame Lynne Owens, former Deputy Commissioner of the Met and ex-Director General of the National Crime Agency said the releases in error are simply one symptom of a broken system which has been caused by a lack of strategic vision and coherent policy choices, with the necessary funding. In November last year, the then Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said victims who had opted to be kept updated under the VCS would be notified if the offender was released in error. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: We understand the distress releases in error cause to victims and their families, and we're taking action to fix the crisis-hit system we inherited. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter