Epping migrant sex offender to be deported ‘this week’

An immigrant who was mistakenly released from prison and later rearrested will be deported “this week”, David Lammy has said.

Hadush Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area of ​​north London at 08:30 GMT on Sunday, ending a 48-hour manhunt that began after he was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford.

Kebatu, who was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel in Epping, was about to be deported when he was mistakenly released by prison staff.

Justice Minister Lammy said he would announce the terms of reference for the fully independent investigation into the release, which will be held in Parliament on Monday.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said an investigation was already underway, adding: “We must make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Kebatu’s first arrest took place in July It led to protests outside the Bell Hotel in EppingHe had lived here since arriving in the UK on a small boat.

The Met Police said Kebatu was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of being an illegal fugitive and would be taken to a London prison.

An eyewitness said he saw Kebatu being taken away by several police officers while walking his dog in Finsbury Park.

Eyewitness Jack Neill-Hall, 40, told the PA news agency: “I knew he was last seen in the Hackney area and I thought ‘oh, he looks a lot like this guy, he’s not wearing the same clothes but he looks like him’.”

“He was not struggling, he was walking very calmly, a little sadly, looking down, he had his hood off, but it was a calm situation,” he added.

“It was a slow walk out of the park while he was handcuffed, but he wasn’t trying to escape.”

The Met said a member of the public reported to police at 8.03am on Sunday morning that they saw a man they believed could be Kebatu at a bus stop near Finsbury Park station.

Police dispatched to the area found him 16 minutes later.

Kebatu was seen being handcuffed and taken away by the police, who was wearing different clothes than the prison gray tracksuit he was last seen wearing on Friday evening.

Essex Police first learned that Kebatu was mistakenly released at 12.57pm on Friday, but that he had boarded a train to east London 16 minutes earlier.

Kebatu was also filmed speaking to members of the public in Chelmsford town center shortly after his release, and police confirmed he approached several people asking for help.

The Met Police also found Kebatu had made a number of train journeys in the capital.

Officers released CCTV footage of Kebatu at a library in the Dalston area on Friday evening. He was still wearing a gray prison-themed tracksuit and carrying a white bag with pictures of avocados on it.

In September Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard Kebatu tried to kiss a young girl on a bench and made several suggestive comments.

The next day he encountered the same girl and tried to kiss her before sexually assaulting her. He also sexually assaulted a woman who offered to help him prepare a resume to find a job.

When Kebatu appeared in court, he gave his age as 38, but the judge said he had seen information indicating he was 41.

He denied the charges against him but was found guilty of five counts last month and sentenced to 12 months in prison, including time spent in jail while awaiting trial. He spent 108 days in prison in total.

Kebatu was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order banning him from approaching or contacting any female and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

The father of the 14-year-old victim said Kebatu’s mistaken release caused him “a lot of stress and anxiety” and condemned the mistake as “incredibly irresponsible”.

In a statement read on his behalf by Epping Forest District Council independent councilor Shane Yerrel, the father said his daughter was afraid of seeing Kebatu and being recognized by him.

Speaking earlier from Wood Green police station in north London, Lammy said Kebatu’s victims had been contacted by police liaison officers in the last 48 hours.

During his trial, the court heard Kebatu had a “firm wish” to be deported. Under UK Border Act 2007A deportation order must be made if a foreign national is convicted of a crime and sentenced to at least 12 months in prison.

HM Prison Service has instructed governors in England and Wales to carry out additional checks before prisoners are released by Monday.

A prison officer has been suspended pending an investigation, but a senior prison official told BBC News the discharge was “probably due to a series of errors due to overwork by staff and inadequate resources”.

They continued: “It’s not just a prison office that is to blame. That would be unfair.”

A report from Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service said 262 prisoners were mistakenly released between April 2024 and March 2025, when the number of prisoners in England and Wales was 115 in the previous 12 months.

Asked why unfair eviction figures were rising, Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, said the Labor government had “inherited a crumbling system”. [from the Conservatives]”.

Health Minister Wes Streeting told the BBC the arrest was a “huge relief” and said Kebatu “will now be deported”.

He continued: “The Minister of Justice has ordered an investigation into how a dangerous man who should have been deported was released onto our streets.

“This study is ongoing, and we will be open and transparent with the public about what went wrong and what we will do about it.”

He has previously said the Prison Service is under enormous pressure “but even in those circumstances that does not explain or excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business there”.

Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the investigation was needed to “learn lessons” and suggested the incident was symptomatic of wider problems in the prison system.

He told BBC Breakfast: “The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent in two weeks by the Department for Work and Pensions.

“My ongoing plea is to try to ensure that the prison service gets the resources it needs to make sure we recruit and retain people with the skills and experience to ensure these problems do not happen.”

Liberal Democrat Chelmsford MP Marie Goldman said Kebatu “must be deported now” and also pressed for a national inquiry.

Earlier, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the incident showed the UK’s “once trusted institutions”, including the police and prisons, were “falling apart before our eyes”.