Epping sex attack migrant arrested in Finsbury Park after three days on the run after Wes Streeting makes desperate TV plea

The Epping sex attack migrant who was accidentally released from prison was arrested following a tip-off from a member of the public, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.

Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday, just four weeks after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while he was held in an asylum seeker hotel in Epping, Essex.

The 38-year-old Ethiopian, whose crimes sparked protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping and across the country, was expecting to be transferred to an immigration detention center ahead of his planned deportation but incompetent prison staff released him instead.

The convicted sex offender was filmed speaking to members of the public in Chelmsford before boarding the 12.41 train to London Liverpool Street.

CCTV showed Kebatu in the Dalston area of ​​Hackney just before 8pm on Friday evening. He was also captured by security cameras at a library in Dalston Square about two hours earlier, wearing a prison gray tracksuit and holding a white bag with an avocado on it.

But the Met Police today announced he had finally been arrested, three days after he was mistakenly released.

Kebatu was arrested by Met officers in London’s Finsbury Park area at around 8.30am this morning.

Commander James Conway, who led the operation to find Kebatu, said: ‘This was a painstaking and fast-paced investigation carried out by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police, supported by Essex Police and British Transport Police.

CCTV footage released by the Metropolitan Police (pictured) shows Hadush Kebatu in Dalston, London, on Saturday night

‘Information from the public led officers to Finsbury Park and following a search they located Mr Kebatu. The person detained by the police will be handed over to the Prison Directorate.

‘I am extremely grateful to the public for their support following our appeal which helped us locate Mr Kebatu.’

Confirmation of the arrest came shortly after Wes Streeting appealed for the public’s help in finding the sex attacker who was mistakenly released.

Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sunday Morning, the health minister said the government was ‘leaving no stone unturned’ to find Kebatu.

‘HE [Kebatu] He was last seen in East London and so I would ask people watching to look at footage of this man to make sure we are all alert and if seen to call 999 immediately.

‘We want him to be found, arrested and deported.’

He added: ‘This man was behind bars for serious sexual offences. He doesn’t need to be in this country. What actually should have happened was that he was transferred for deportation.

‘So the idea of ​​him wandering our streets is incredibly serious. ‘This is a serious failure.’

The cabinet minister admitted the erroneous statement showed something had gone “extraordinarily wrong”.

He added: ‘I’m as angry as the people watching this morning. You can’t understand how this happens. We do not want to bias the investigation. We’ll get to the bottom of exactly what went wrong.

‘Every day, there are millions of people working in the public sector doing great work. And we need to figure out how that happens when something like this goes spectacularly wrong.’

It turned out that prison officers told Kebatu that he had to go to the repatriation center on his own.

A delivery driver told Sky News: ‘I heard one of the officers say: ‘This is how you get to the station, you get off here…’ [he] He directed him to the station and said he had to take the train to get here… This conversation was in front of the prison.’

What caused further insecurity last night was when Kebatu spent more than 90 minutes outside the prison because he did not know ‘where to go or what to do’.

The driver who delivered the equipment to the prison said:'[The officers] We were actually sending him away, saying ‘Go, you’ve been released, go’.’

As the hunt spiraled into comedy, Wes Streeting (pictured) pleaded for the public’s help in finding the sex attacker who was mistakenly released.

Video footage (above) shows Kebatu in Chelmsford town center asking locals for directions.

The debacle has left Labor facing new questions about its handling of the immigration crisis.

It comes amid a backlash against efforts to tackle illegal immigration, as a man deported under France’s ‘one in, one out’ scheme re-crossed the Channel on a small boat and landed on British shores.

Conservative MP for Epping Forest, Neil Hudson, described Kebatu’s release as a “devastating mistake” that left the whole community “deeply upset, saddened and angry”, adding that “accountability must reach the highest level”.

According to the driver, even after his release, Kebatu continued to go ‘back and forth’ to the prison reception area asking for help and showed staff a ream of paperwork regarding his case.

“I’m not defending this guy, but in my eyes he wanted to do the right thing and go to the right place,” he said.

‘He knew he was going to be deported but didn’t know where to go or how to get there. He was constantly scratching his head and asking, ‘Where will I go, where will I go?’ he said.

“You were released, you were released,” he said, adding that the officers had no intention of helping him.

Kebatu was sentenced to one year in prison last month for attacking his 14-year-old victim. During his trial Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard he had acted ‘ignorantly and disgustingly’.

Even though the immigrant knew that ‘she was only 14 years old’, he got excited when he put his hand on the girl’s hips and caressed her hair. He said he wanted to have a baby with her and invited her back to The Bell Hotel, where he lived.

Kebatu then tried to kiss a woman who tried to intervene, then put his hand on her leg and told her she was beautiful.

The asylum seeker gave his age as 38 when he appeared in court, but the judge said he had seen information showing that he was 41 years old.

Met Police Commander James Conway called on Kebatu to surrender, saying: ‘We want to locate you in a safe and controlled manner. You had already expressed your desire to return to Ethiopia when speaking to immigration officials. The best outcome for you is to contact us directly.’

He said the asylum seeker had made ‘a number of journeys’ in London since his release on Friday and had ‘access to funds’.