Ralston Dodd, 25, was locked up last year after he almost killed Jerrell Holland by stabbing him in the back three times 
 
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 A KNIFE thug jailed for nine years is free because bungling court staff wrote nine months on prison forms. 
 
 Ralston Dodd, 25, was locked up last year after he almost killed Jerrell Holland by stabbing him in the back three times. 
 
 Dodd stabbed a man three times in the back after a row 
 
 But stunned Jerrell spotted Dodd in North London just weeks ago. An arrest warrant was issued after the court error was revealed — but Dodd has now gone into hiding. 
 
 Jerrell’s dad Alex said: “How can this happen?” 
 
 Friends of the knife thug say he thought he had won the lottery when a court blunder freed him after a few months. 
 
 Ralston Dodd, 25, known as Ratty, stabbed Jerrell Holland three times in the back and punctured his lung after a row. 
 
 He was handed the stiff sentence for GBH in November for what was described as an “appalling act of violence that nearly cost a man his life”. 
 
 But it is believed crown court staff misheard the judge’s sentence and mistakenly filled out prison forms for a nine-month jail term instead. 
 
 It meant prison staff wrongly put Dodd back on the streets within months of him being sent down. 
 
 News Group Newspapers Ltd Police searched for Dodd at an address in North London 
 
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 A friend said: “He couldn’t believe his luck. He feels like he’s won the lottery and all of his Christmases have come at once. 
 
 “He’s had to keep his head down in case anyone spots him. 
 
 “It’s unbelievable how it’s happened. He has a violent temperament — and now he’s out.” 
 
 The friend said Dodd even tried to arrange an appointment with a probation officer after his early release. 
 
 But they said they had no record of him needing their services as he was not expected to be free until 2026. 
 
 It is not known exactly when Dodd was released from HMP Thameside. But criminals are usually freed halfway through their sentence. 
 
 Alamy Dodd, known as Ratty, was originally sentenced to nine years in prison 
 
 Dodd is known to have served no more than seven months — because he was seen in his old haunts last month. 
 
 Stunned Jerrell saw him in the passenger seat of a car in North London. 
 
 Jerrell’s dad Alex, 42, yesterday demanded answers from the police and prison authorities. 
 
 He said: “This is an unacceptable blunder by them. He got nine years for stabbing my son three times. 
 
 “He could have died. I held my son and thought he was going to die. 
 
 “How can this happen without anyone noticing? I can’t imagine they’d let out Peter Sutcliffe early. 
 
 Martin Godwin for the Guardian The thug spent seven months at HMP Thameside 
 
 “When my son saw him in a car he thought at first he was seeing a ghost because Ralston should be in jail.” 
 
 The Ministry of Justice issued a ­warrant for Dodd’s arrest after the alleged court bungle came to light. 
 
 But Dodd went into hiding and is still at large. 
 
 He knifed Jerrell following a gang dispute outside a housing office in Islington. CCTV footage captured Dodd plunging a knife into the 22-year-old as he tried to flee on a bike. 
 
 Jerrell was airlifted to Whitechapel Hospital in a critical condition. He has since made a full recovery. 
 
 Dodd went on the run but was ­captured weeks later by a specialist police gang squad. 
 
 He was sentenced at London’s Blackfriars crown court. The Ministry of Justice said yesterday: “Releases in error are extremely rare­ but we take any case very seriously. 
 
 “We are urgently investigating so we learn the ­lessons to prevent it ­happening again. Public protection is our priority. 
 
 “A warrant has been issued and police are pursuing the offender.” ||||| An "extremely dangerous" prisoner is being hunted by police after a clerical error meant he was released from jail months into a nine-year sentence. 
 
 Ralston Dodd, 25, was jailed in November after he admitted stabbing a man three times in the back following an argument on a north London street. 
 
 The attack, described as an "appalling act of violence" by police, left the victim fighting for his life and an extensive manhunt was launched to track Dodd down. 
 
 Now police have been forced to launch a second search for the violent offender, after he was released from prison in error as a result of a court incorrectly recording his sentence. ||||| Image copyright Met Police Image caption Ralston Dodd was serving time for attacking a 21-year-old man with a knife 
 
 An "extremely dangerous" prisoner has been released early from a nine-year jail term after his sentence was recorded in error as nine months. 
 
 Ralston Dodd, 25, was jailed in November after he admitted stabbing a man three times in the back following an argument on a north London street. 
 
 The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said such releases in error were "extremely rare" and it was investigating. 
 
 A warrant for Dodd's arrest has been issued. 
 
 Dodd attacked a 21-year-old man with a knife in Islington on 18 September 2016, before going on the run. 
 
 He was arrested on 11 October and was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment at Blackfriars Crown Court on 11 November after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent. 
 
 After his sentencing, Det Insp Will Lexton-Jones said the inquiry had "ultimately led to an extremely dangerous offender being jailed". 
 
 He added: "This was an appalling act of violence that almost cost a man his life. The seriousness of this offence is reflected in the extensive prison sentence." 
 
 Dodd, from Islington, was being held in custody at HMP Thameside in south-east London before his release. 
 
 Image caption Dodd was released from HMP Thameside 
 
 The Sun newspaper reported that after he was released he was spotted in a car by his victim. 
 
 His father told the newspaper his son "could have died" in the attack. 
 
 "I held my son and thought he was going to die. How can this happen without anyone noticing?," he said. 
 
 An MoJ spokeswoman said such releases in error are "extremely rare but we take any case very seriously". 
 
 "We are urgently investigating so we learn the lessons to prevent it happening again," she said. 
 
 "Public protection is our priority." 
 
 A Metropolitan Police spokesman said it wished to trace a man "for being unlawfully at large".
– 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.)