A convicted rapist who fled the country after being wrongly freed from prison claims he warned guards “this is a mistake” as they pushed him out the gate. Bernadin Dedic, 48, told his lawyers and friends within hours of his release from HMP Wormwood Scrubs in February that he knew a judge had not granted him bail — but says the prison ignored his pleas to let him stay the weekend.
The mistaken release
Dedic had been remanded in custody awaiting trial on allegations that he repeatedly raped a woman at knifepoint. The blunder that set him free began at Isleworth Crown Court on 6 February. An official there mistakenly mixed up digital case files and wrongly concluded that Dedic had been granted bail. The incorrect notification was transmitted to HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and the prison acted on it.
Dedic’s legal team had previously tried and failed to secure his release. They offered an £80,000 surety and proposed conditions that he live at a friend’s house in Milton Keynes, not enter London, and report regularly to police. The court had rejected those proposals, yet the administrative error led to the prison being told his bail had been granted.
Within hours of his release, Dedic travelled to St Pancras station and boarded a Eurostar train using his Bosnian passport. His UK passport had been seized by the Metropolitan Police during the investigation, but the Bosnian document had not been taken. He returned to his native Bosnia, where he still has a home and business interests, and has not come back since.
Escape and excuses
Dedic said he called his lawyers and spoke to friends after leaving the prison. “All told me you don’t have a fair trial, go away and try from there,” he said. The father-of-two originally failed to attend his trial in March, claiming he had a problem obtaining a visa. When police, a judge, and the Border Force helped resolve the travel difficulties, he said he could not fly because he had injured his knee in a skiing accident.
The trial was rearranged for June. Dedic then sent messages saying he had suffered chest pains on his way to the airport. Judge Hannah Duncan expressed deep scepticism, stating she was “far from convinced he has had a heart attack” and describing his actions as “yet another attempt by Mr Dedic to obstruct, manipulate and avoid justice”. She ordered the trial to proceed in his absence.
Trial and conviction
The jury found Dedic guilty on all nine counts: four charges of rape, two counts of sexual assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, threatening a person with a knife when in a private place, and making a threat to kill. The trial heard evidence that Dedic had drunk red wine and snorted cocaine before the attacks. He produced a kitchen knife, threatened to kill the woman, cut off her clothes, and then raped and sexually assaulted her. Prosecutor Simon Sandford said: “She was terrified and was prepared to do whatever he said.”
When asked if he plans to return to London to be sentenced, Dedic replied: “No.” He says he does not want to go to prison and claims he cannot fly because of a fear of enclosed spaces. He had entered not guilty pleas to all charges before he fled.
Systemic failures
Dedic’s case is not an isolated incident. An independent review by Dame Lynne Owens, commissioned after the mistaken release of another sex offender, found “deep-rooted issues” within the criminal justice system. The review described erroneous releases as “simply one symptom of a broken system” exacerbated by years of austerity, staffing cuts, a failure to build prison places, and underinvestment in digital infrastructure. The government has accepted all 33 recommendations and is investing up to £82 million to digitalise outdated paper-based systems and introduce a new prisoner ID system.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that between April 2025 and March 2026, 179 prisoners were released by mistake in England and Wales — a decrease from 262 in the previous year, though the department acknowledged the number of errors remains “unacceptably high”.
Separate inspections of HMP Wormwood Scrubs have raised concerns about security, including inconsistent gate procedures, the body scanner not always being used, and issues with staff corruption. A 2025 inspection found that more than a third of prisoners tested positive for illicit drugs and that searching of staff and prisoners was not sufficiently thorough. Staff did not routinely wear body-worn cameras, and governance around the use of force was found to be lacking.
A review hearing in Dedic’s case is scheduled for 7 July. No date for sentencing has yet been set.
