A man who was in jail for taking his five-year- son has been let out of prison by mistake and is now running away which is a big problem for public safety and the justice system.
Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye was let out of HMP Pentonville in London on April 21. It took the prison people two days to figure out that Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye was supposed to stay in jail for another twelve months and then be sent to France.
June Mr Justice Hayden said that Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye took his son, Laurys N’Djosse Adeyeye from his mother in France in July 2024 and took him to Nigeria. The judge said this was a serious thing to do.
Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye was caught in the UK. Put in jail for six months in January because he would not listen to the court and return the child to his mother, Claire N’Djosse who has not seen her son for almost two years.
On April 20 a day before Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye was supposed to be let out he got another twelve-month sentence for not listening to the court.. Because of a mistake with the paperwork this sentence was not written down and that is why Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye was let out of jail by mistake the next day.
The lawyers for Ms N’Djosse said that it took two days for the authorities to warn people to stop Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawoe Adeyeye from leaving the UK, which made it harder to find him.
Mr Justice Hayden was very angry with the authorities. Said that they had failed and that the prison people did not understand how serious the situation was.
He said Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawole Adeyeye is a danger to his sons physical and emotional wellbeing and that keeping him in jail is probably the only way to get the child back to his mother.
The court heard that taking the child away has been very hard on Ms N’Djosse. She was watching from France with an interpreter. It was very sad to see how upset she was.
The Metropolitan Police said they were told about the mistake on April 24 and are now trying hard to find Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawole Adeyeye and put him back in jail.
Even though the child was born and raised in France, a court in Nigeria said that some people who are related to Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawole Adeyeye could take care of the child. And they did this without asking the mother. The police in France are also looking for Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawole Adeyeye because he took the child.
This mistake is part of a problem with people being let out of jail by mistake. The official numbers show that 262 people were let out of jail by mistake in the year before March 2025 which’s a lot more than the 115 people the year before.
The lawyers for Ms N’Djosse are asking anyone who knows where Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawole Adeyeye is to tell the police so they can try to get the child to his mother and put Ifedayo Adedapo Kolawole Adeyeye back, in jail.
