A convicted sex offender whose mistaken release from prison triggered a nationwide search has pleaded guilty to biting two police officers who were off duty at the time.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, appeared via video link from HMP Pentonville at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where he admitted assaulting the officers at Blackhorse Road Underground station in east London on 20 July.
The Algerian national, who has remained in Britain beyond his visa since 2020, received a conviction in 2024 for indecent exposure in a London park, placing him on the sex offenders register.
The incident occurred when the two officers independently noticed Kaddour-Cherif trying to steal mobile phones from passengers on the Tube.
Prosecutor Deborah Kol told the court that officers Jason Norton and Bradley Glynn happened to be travelling on the same train by coincidence, neither in uniform and unaware of each other’s presence.
One of the targeted passengers was asleep when Kaddour-Cherif attempted to take their phone, the court heard.
Mr Glynn stepped in between 6.30am and 7am, instructing the defendant to hand back the mobile device.
When Kaddour-Cherif refused, the pair moved from the carriage onto the platform where a “scuffle” broke out, Ms Kol said.
Mr Norton then assisted his fellow officer as both attempted to restrain the defendant, at which point Kaddour-Cherif bit them both.
Backup was summoned and he was subsequently arrested and removed from the scene.
Both officers needed their wounds cleaned and were prescribed a week-long course of penicillin.
Defence lawyer Jeffrey Shine told the court there remained “some grey area” regarding what his client was doing on the train, noting that the other passengers had not provided statements.
Kaddour-Cherif was wrongly released from jail
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METROPOLITAN POLICE
“Not all the factual matrix is accepted,” Mr Shine said, adding that while one officer reportedly showed his warrant card, Kaddour-Cherif did not recall this and “had he known they were police officers he wouldn’t have got involved in the scuffle.”
The lawyer offered an apology on his client’s behalf and noted that while he had viewed photographs of the bite injuries, they were “not, thankfully, high-level bites but a bite is a bite.”
Magistrate Lady Jane Grabiner postponed sentencing until 30 January, following Kaddour-Cherif’s crown court appearance on 27 January, explaining that a community penalty might not be available if he receives a custodial sentence.
The court heard that Kaddour-Cherif has accumulated six convictions covering 10 offences between 2024 and 2025, including crimes against individuals and police-related matters.
Last week he entered guilty pleas at separate crown courts for burglary at a Walthamstow garage in January 2024 and possessing a knife in Earlswood in November 2023.
His erroneous release from HMP Wandsworth on 29 October proved embarrassing for the Government, particularly as it followed the mistaken freeing of another migrant, Hadush Kebatu, who had been imprisoned for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
The blunder was only discovered on 4 November when court staff attempted to arrange a video link and found he had gone.
A public tip-off led to his arrest in Finsbury Park three days later.
Official figures from July revealed 262 prisoners were wrongly released in the year to March 2025, representing a 128 per cent rise on the previous year.