At the end of an intense 45-hour police manhunt, 41-year-old Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu has been re-arrested in north London after being mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday.
Kebatu was serving a 12-month prison sentence, handed down in September for multiple sexual assaults including offenses against a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex. The judge had warned of his “significant risk of re-offending”.
The release blunder occurred when Kebatu was meant to be transferred to an immigration detention centre for deportation, but instead was discharged as if eligible for release on licence. He boarded a train from Chelmsford to London shortly after the error was discovered.
A timeline of the hunt: On Friday he was at the Dalston Square library in Hackney around 6pm; by Sunday morning he was spotted at a bus stop in Finsbury Park and arrested at about 8.30am by the Metropolitan Police Service. Officials say public tips played a key role in locating him.
Following the arrest, both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary David Lammy pledged a full investigation, with Lammy ordering immediate strengthening of prisoner-release checks. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Kebatu will be deported “as quickly as possible”.
The case has stirred public outrage — not only for the nature of the assaults but also because the offender had only recently arrived in the UK via a Channel crossing and was being housed in accommodation for asylum seekers in Epping when the original offences took place. Local protests erupted over the hotel hosting asylum-seekers after the case came to light.
The inquiry faces serious questions: how such a high-risk individual was discharged erroneously, how prison procedure failed, and how public safety was jeopardised. The failure comes amid broader concerns about overstretched prison and immigration systems.
In sum: Kebatu is back in custody, the government is under pressure to show accountability, and this episode has laid bare systemic vulnerabilities in the way criminal and immigration cases are managed. Given the gravity of the error and the risks involved, the incident is likely to prompt deeper reform.
