British-Nigerian father who abducted 5-year-old son enjoyed pub night before fleeing after jail blunder

Nigerian-British man abducts son " decoding="async" fetchpriority="high"> Nigerian-British man abducts son British authorities have launched a manhunt for a Nigerian-British man accused of abducting his five-year-old son from France to Nigeria after he was wrongly released from a London prison and may have fled the UK within days. Ifedayo Adeyeye, 58, walked free from HMP Pentonville in London on April 21 despite being handed an additional 12-month jail sentence just a day earlier for repeatedly defying court orders to return his son, Laurys, to his mother in France. According to court proceedings reported by Sky News, Adeyeye spent hours “strolling about” London after his release, enjoying dinner and drinks at a pub before allegedly travelling to Spain the next day. Police were reportedly informed about the prison blunder only three days later, triggering sharp criticism from the court. Calling it a shocking state failure, High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden said prison authorities showed an “alarming lack of urgency”. “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 said. Child abducted during first overnight stay The case centres on Laurys N’Djosse Adeyeye, a five-year-old boy born in France to Adeyeye and Claire N’Djosse, a Cameroonian national. The couple met in Grenoble in 2020 and later separated. After DNA tests confirmed Adeyeye was Laurys’ biological father, a French court granted him supervised visitation rights while full custody remained with the mother. Trouble began in July 2024 during Laurys’ first overnight stay with his father. Instead of returning the child, Adeyeye allegedly took him from France to England and then to Nigeria without the mother’s consent. When N’Djosse sought answers, Adeyeye allegedly claimed the child had gone on a “two-week holiday” with relatives. Investigators later discovered he had secretly removed Laurys from France. French authorities subsequently issued an international arrest warrant against him over child abduction allegations. UK court invokes rare powers The matter later took an extraordinary legal turn when England’s High Court ruled it had the authority to order the child’s return even though Laurys was outside Britain. Justice Hayden noted that the case was highly unusual because it involved three countries — France, the UK and Nigeria. The court also observed that Nigeria is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, complicating efforts to secure the boy’s return. Despite this, the High Court invoked its “inherent jurisdiction” based on Laurys’ British nationality and ordered Adeyeye to return the child directly to France. After repeatedly ignoring court orders, Adeyeye was jailed for contempt of court in January 2026 for six months. While serving that sentence, he was found guilty of further breaches and handed another 12-month sentence on April 20. However, prison officials allegedly failed to process the new sentence in time, resulting in his mistaken release the next morning. Judge calls abduction ‘act of cruelty’ Justice Hayden described Adeyeye as “arrogant and manipulative”, “cold and calculated”, and said the abduction was “an act of cruelty that even this court rarely sees”. “He finds himself in an alien country now, without his father or mother,” the judge said about Laurys, adding that the child’s entire world had been “snatched away”. The judge also highlighted concerns raised during supervised visits in France before the abduction. Staff at the contact centre reportedly described Adeyeye as aggressive, dismissive and uninterested in understanding his son’s routines or emotional needs. Suspect may have fled to Spain During the latest hearing, Metropolitan Police told the court that Adeyeye may have travelled to Spain on April 22, one day after his mistaken release. Spanish authorities have reportedly been alerted. The court heard that prison officials blamed a “communication failure” with the courts for the release, a claim Justice Hayden rejected as “entirely groundless”. Lawyers representing Ms N’Djosse accused British authorities of repeatedly failing the mother and child. “Not only has the state failed her by the release of the father, but the state has failed her by not informing the Metropolitan Police promptly,” her lawyer Chris Bryden said. Court lifts anonymity to aid search In a rare move, the High Court allowed publication of the identities and images of both Adeyeye and Laurys in a bid to help trace them. Family court proceedings involving children are usually kept confidential, but the judge ruled that the exceptional circumstances and public interest justified transparency. The UK Ministry of Justice said it is working with police to recapture Adeyeye and acknowledged growing concerns over mistaken prisoner releases. Official data shows 179 inmates were wrongly released across England and Wales between April 2025 and March 2026.