Manhunt continues for Epping hotel asylum seeker mistakenly released

Police are continuing a manhunt for an asylum seeker who was mistakenly released from prison on Friday, weeks after being jailed for sexually assaulting a schoolgirl in Essex.

Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu was due to be sent to an immigration detention center at HMP Chelmsford ahead of his planned deportation on Friday, but Justice Secretary David Lammy said the 41-year-old was now “at large” in London.

Lammy said officers from the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police (BTP) and Essex Police were working together to track down Kebatu. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison in September.

Sir Keir Starmer described the eviction as “completely unacceptable”.

The Prime Minister said Kebatu “must be caught and deported for his crimes”, adding that police were “working urgently to catch him”.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the evacuation was “incredibly inadequate”.

“The Conservatives voted against Labor’s prisoner release program because it was sending predators back to our streets,” he said on X.

The Prison Service has suspended one officer while the investigation continues.

Essex Police said Kebatu boarded the train to London at Chelmsford station at 12.41pm on Friday.

The force said it was notified of “an error” by prison services at 12.57pm on Friday.

The statement continued: “We understand the public’s concern about this situation and I can assure you that we have officers working urgently to locate and take him into custody.”

Lammy said he was “appalled” and “outraged on behalf of the public”.

He continued: “Let’s be clear that Kebatu committed an outrageous sexual assault involving a young child and a woman. And for these reasons, the situation is of course very serious.”

A Prison Service spokesman said: “We are urgently working with the police to bring an offender back into custody after he was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford.

“Protecting the public is our top priority and we have launched an investigation into this incident.”

Kebatu’s arrest in July sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he lived after arriving in England on a small boat.

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.

During the trial, Kebatu gave his date of birth as December 1986, which made him 38 years old, although court records showed him to be 41 years old.

He was found guilty of five charges and sentenced to 12 months in prison. He 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 court heard it was his “categorical wish” to be deported.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “He’s walking the streets of Essex right now. Britain is devastated.”

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.