UK Error Released Ethiopian Sex Offender; Inquiry Launched

Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while housed at an asylum hotel in Epping, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford instead of being transferred for deportation. The error sparked a nationwide manhunt that lasted three days while Kebatu changed his appearance and travelled through east London before being arrested in Finsbury Park and returned to custody. He was later deported to Ethiopia with no right to return; Home Office officials said he was escorted on a commercial flight. Officials also said that after Kebatu threatened to disrupt the removal, an operational decision was taken to pay him £500 to secure his cooperation — a practice ministers, including policing minister Sarah Jones, defended as cheaper than alternatives. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called the release a blunder that "should never have happened" and an inquiry has been launched into prison and removals procedures. Kebatu's case, which officials say began after he crossed the Channel in a small boat and provoked local protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, has intensified scrutiny of asylum accommodation, border policy and prison administrative failures.