UK Paid Sex Offender £500 After Release Blunder

Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker convicted of sexually assaulting a 14‑year‑old girl and another woman at the Bell Hotel in Epping, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford last week, triggering a two‑day manhunt and his re‑arrest. He was put on a flight and forcibly deported to Ethiopia after removals staff made a discretionary £500 payment to secure his departure following his threat to disrupt the removal. Officials say the payment was an operational decision made without ministerial approval. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the release “should never have happened”; ministers have ordered enhanced release checks, an independent inquiry has been announced, and a prison officer has been suspended. The £500 payment and wider reports of payments of up to £1,500–£2,000 to encourage some foreign nationals to leave have provoked public anger and renewed criticism of asylum‑hotel policing and the government’s handling of removals and taxpayer funds.