Smith handed himself back in on Thursday. He had been let go on Monday, having been sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court earlier that day.
The BBC understands he was released as a result of a clerical error at court level – with a suspended sentence entered into the computer system instead of a custodial sentence. A correction was made, but sent to the wrong person.
Since coming to power last year, the government has adopted a policy of releasing some offenders earlier in their sentence to ease overcrowding.
But this appears to have affected the number of prisoners let go by mistake.
Lammy said on Friday that the government “inherited a prison system in crisis” and said he was personally “appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing”.
He continued: “I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.
“That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons.”
Correction 8 November 2025: An earlier version of this article said a prisoner had been mistakenly released in March 2024, under the previous Conservative government. Following publication, the BBC was told the release happened at a later, unspecified date in 2024 so these details were removed from the story.
