Essex PoliceA migrant who was mistakenly released from prison has been found in north London and taken back into custody following a large-scale manhunt, the Metropolitan Police has said.
Hadush Kebatu was found in the Finsbury Park area at 08:30 GMT on Sunday morning, two days after being let go in error from HMP Chelmsford.
Kebatu, who was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping while living in an asylum hotel, released in error instead of being taken for deportation.
The Met Police said Kebatu was detained by police and “will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service”.
Cmd James Conway, who oversaw the operation to find Kebatu, said: “This has been a diligent and fast paced investigation led by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police, supported by Essex Police and the British Transport Police (BTP).
“Information from the public led officers to Finsbury Park and following a search, they located Mr Kebatu.
“I am extremely grateful to the public for their support following our appeal, which assisted in locating Mr Kebatu.”
Essex Police were first made aware that Kebatu had been released in error at 12:57 on Friday but Kebatu had already boarded a train to east London 16 minutes earlier.
He was picked up on CCTV at a library in the Dalston area on Friday evening wearing a prison-issue grey tracksuit and carrying a white bag with pictures of avocados on it.
Kebatu’s arrest in July sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been living since arriving in the UK on a small boat.
In September, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard Kebatu tried to kiss a teenage girl on a bench and made numerous sexually explicit comments.
The following day, he encountered the same girl and tried to kiss her before sexually assaulting her. He also sexually assaulted a woman who had offered to help him draft a CV to find work.
Kebatu gave his age as 38 during a court appearance, but a judge said he had been seen information indicating he was 41.
He denied the charges against him but was found guilty of five offences last month and sentenced to 12 months in custody, including the time he had already time in jail awaiting his trial. In total, he spent 108 days in prison.
Kebatu was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which banned him from approaching or contacting any female, and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
During his trial, the court heard it was Kebatu’s “firm wish” to be deported. Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and has received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.
Justice Secretary David Lammy has ordered an independent investigation into Kebatu’s release, while HM Prison Service has instructed governors in England and Wales to implement additional checks before inmates are released by Monday.
A prison officer has been suspended pending investigation but a senior prison staffer told News the release was “down to a series of mistakes probably because staff are overworked and in short supply”.
They continued: “It’s not just one prison office who’s to blame. That would be unfair.”
Speaking minutes before Kebatu’s arrest was confirmed, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the ‘s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg “there is no skirting over the fact this is an utterly appalling situation”.
He continued: “I do not accept that these things just happen. We are talking about people who are behind bars by definition for serious offences and so to mismanage the situation in this way is totally unacceptable.”
Streeting said the Prison Service was under enormous pressure “but even against that backdrop it doesn’t explain or excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business being there”.
Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said an inquiry was necessary in order “to learn lessons”, and suggested the incident was symptomatic of wider problems with the prison system.
He told Breakfast: “The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent by the Department for Work and Pensions in two weeks.
“My constant plea is to try to ensure the prison service gets the resources it requires to ensure we are recruiting and retaining people with skills and experience to make sure these problems don’t happen.”
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the incident showed that the UK’s “once-trusted institutions”, including the police and prisons, were “disintegrating before our eyes”.
“Nobody who arrives by small boat should be free to walk our streets,” he added.
A report from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service said 262 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 in the previous 12 months.