A man who was inadvertently released from incarceration on the same day he was sentenced has turned himself in after a three-day period, according to police reports.

Surrey Police, which initiated a search operation on Wednesday, confirmed that William Smith returned to HMP Wandsworth on Thursday.

The 35-year-old was released from the south London facility on Monday, despite receiving a 45-month sentence for various fraud offenses at Croydon Crown Court earlier that day.

Sources at the BBC indicate that his release was due to a clerical mistake at the court, where a suspended sentence was incorrectly recorded in the system instead of the intended custodial one. Although a correction was issued, it was sent to the wrong individual.