BRITISH-NIGERIAN MAN JAILED FOR ABDUCTING SON FLEES UK AFTER ACCIDENTAL PRISON RELEASE
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
A British-Nigerian man, Ifedayo Adeyeye, who was serving a prison sentence in the United Kingdom for abducting his young son, has reportedly fled the country after being mistakenly released from prison.
According to reports from The Telegraph UK, the error occurred after prison officials at HMP Pentonville failed to receive updated details of an additional sentence imposed on Adeyeye.
At the resumption of court proceedings on Monday, the court heard that police were not immediately informed of the mistaken release, giving Adeyeye a three-day head start before a nationwide manhunt was launched by Metropolitan Police Service.
The case stems from a ruling delivered in June, in which the court found that Adeyeye abducted his son, Laurys Adeyeye, from the child’s mother, Claire N’Djosse, in France and transported him through the UK to Nigeria.
The boy, who was born in France, had reportedly lived with his mother since birth. The court was told that July 27, 2024, the day of the abduction, was the first time Laurys had spent the night with his father.
After failing to return the child as ordered by the court, Adeyeye was arrested upon his return to the UK and sentenced to six months imprisonment in January for contempt of court.
He later received an additional 12-month prison term on April 20 after again failing to comply with court orders requiring the child’s return.
However, prison authorities mistakenly released him the following day after the new sentence details were allegedly not communicated to officers responsible for processing his custody.
During a hearing on May 1, the court criticised what it described as an “alarming lack of urgency” by prison officials in responding to the incident.
The judge warned that the escape might have been prevented if police had been informed immediately.
“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,” the judge reportedly said.
At Monday’s hearing, the court was informed that Adeyeye may have fled to Spain shortly after his release and is believed to have left the UK on April 22.
In a statement presented before the court, the Metropolitan Police said it recognised “both the seriousness of this matter and how traumatic the present situation must be” for the child and his mother.
The police added that efforts were ongoing to locate and arrest Adeyeye.
The report also highlighted wider concerns about prison administration failures in the UK, citing Ministry of Justice figures showing that 179 inmates were mistakenly released between April 2025 and March 2026.
The case has drawn comparisons to another incident involving a Nigerian-born convict, Ola Abimbola, who reportedly escaped from HMP Ford in October last year while serving a 21-year sentence for kidnapping.
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