'Extremely Dangerous' Man Freed Due to Clerical Error

A man British police call "extremely dangerous" was accidentally released early from prison, possibly due to court staff mishearing his sentence, the Telegraph reports. Last September in London, 25-year-old Ralston Dodd stabbed a man three times in the back following an argument, nearly killing him. He was arrested three weeks after the attack following a manhunt and pleaded guilty in November. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.

But it's possible court staff misheard the judge's "nine years" for "nine months," and now Dodd is the subject of a second manhunt, the Sun reports. According to the BBC, an arrest warrant has been issued for Dodd, who police say was guilty of an "appalling act of violence." "This is an unacceptable blunder by them," the 21-year-old victim's father tells the Sun. "How can this happen without anyone noticing?" A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, which is investigating the circumstances, says these kinds of mistakes are "extremely rare." (Woman granted clemency by President Obama is back in prison.)