Child abductor wrongly released early from prison could now be abroad, police fears

A man jailed over the abduction of his five-year-old son may have left the UK in the three days it took prison staff to notify police that he had been mistakenly released from custody, the High Court has been told.

Ifedayo Adeyeye was released from HMP Pentonville in London on April 21, having been jailed for contempt of court over the abduction of Laurys N’Djosse Adeyeye.

Prison staff allowed the 58-year-old’s release despite him being ordered to serve a 12-month sentence the day before, and being due to be extradited to France upon its completion.

Mr Justice Hayden said at a hearing on Monday that following his release, Adeyeye "strolled about" the London area and "had a very nice dinner (and) had quite a lot of drink" at a local pub, before transferring thousands of pounds to others from a bank account.

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It is believed that he may have travelled to Spain the following day, all before prison staff contacted the Metropolitan Police in the afternoon of April 24.

Mr Justice Hayden said: "If the police had been contacted immediately, this could perhaps, almost certainly perhaps, have been prevented. The public is entitled to expect far better than this."

Last June, the same judge ruled that Adeyeye, a dual British-Nigerian national, abducted Laurys from his mother, Claire N’Djosse, in France and took him to the African country via the UK.

The judge said Laurys was born in France and had lived with Ms N’Djosse since birth, adding that the day of the abduction, July 27 2024, was the first time that Laurys was staying overnight with his father.

Ms N’Djosse has not seen her son since and has been trying to secure his return through the English courts, with Mr Justice Hayden ruling in a legal first that the High Court had the power to order that Adeyeye return Laurys to his mother, even though the boy did not live in the UK.

After he failed to do so, Adeyeye was arrested upon his return to the UK and was jailed for six months in January for contempt of court.

More to follow...

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