Over 500 prisoners, including offenders in custody for murder and other violent offences, were released early due to blunders by prison officers in England and Wales in the last 10 years, according to new figures.
A data by the UK’s ministry of justice showed that in the last decade 505 prisoners have been let out of jail by mistake.
The figures obtained by the Press Association news agency through a Freedom of Information request said that 48 suspected or convicted criminals were freed by mistake in the the last year alone.
Forty-one people were wrongly released from prison and seven from court custody last year and the figure is one fewer than the previous year.
Two of those released in 2014-15 had not been returned to custody by the start of December this year, including an alleged sex offender released from court.