A former asylum seeker who was released from prison in error after sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl has been spotted boarding a London-bound train, Essex police said.
The deputy prime minister, David Lammy, said on Friday night Kebatu was now “at large in London” and the Metropolitan police was assisting in the search.
The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexual assault and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
The 41-year-old was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported but was freed by mistake, it has emerged, and police in Essex are now urgently trying to find him.
Police confirmed Kebatu was seen catching a train at Chelmsford railway station at 12.41pm on Friday.
A statement from the force said: “We were informed by the Prison Service at 12.57pm today of an error this morning surrounding the release of an individual.
“As a result of that, we have launched a search operation to locate them and are working closely with partner agencies.
“We understand the concern the public would have regarding this situation and can assure you we have officers working to urgently locate and detain him.”
Keir Starmer, said he was “appalled” by the error. “This man must be caught and deported for his crimes,” he added.
Prison Service sources said the release was down to human error. It is understood the prison officer who authorised the release has been removed from duties while an urgent investigation takes place.
One prison source described it as a “disaster waiting to happen” because of the high volume of releases being processed by inexperienced staff, with dozens of prisoners serving different tariffs being released at the same time.
Recent law changes mean that foreign criminals such as Kebatu can be removed from England and Wales after serving a shorter sentence than domestic criminals. Kebatu was automatically eligible for immediate removal as soon as he was sentenced because of the time he had already spent on remand.
Lammy said there was “no excuse” for the mistaken release, but that Labour had inherited “a collapsing prison system”.
He said: “Let us be clear, we inherited a collapsing prison system in which the last government was releasing people early and which our prisons were overflowing.
“And, indeed, we have a sentencing bill in parliament seeking to address that issue, and we have stabilised the system.
“But that can be no excuse for wrongly releasing an individual, a dangerous individual, into the community.
It is understood he had been due to be flown back to Ethiopia “imminently” from the detention centre. Offenders who are subject to deportation are normally transferred by a secure prison van directly to the removal centre.
Kebatu was found guilty of committing two counts of sexual assault and one of attempted sexual assault in July, days after arriving in the UK on a small boat and taking up residence at the Bell hotel in Epping.
He was also found guilty of one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence, and has been in prison since 23 September.
His case triggered protests outside the Bell hotel, which far-right activists sought to exploit, leading to assaults on police officers and 32 arrests.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are urgently working with police to return an offender to custody following a release in error at HMP Chelmsford.
“Public protection is our top priority and we have launched an investigation into this incident.”
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, said: “The Epping hotel migrant sex attacker … is now walking the streets of Essex. Britain is broken.”
The shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “Remember: they told you that local mums who protested outside the hotel where this sex attacker stayed were the problem.”
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “It is disgraceful that a dangerous convicted paedophile who attacked a 14-year-old girl has been allowed to vanish. This despicable man is an illegal immigrant who should have been deported immediately he arrived.
“This is breathtaking incompetence by David Lammy and Shabana Mahmood [the home secretary]. They have put our children at further risk by letting this dangerous illegal immigrant out on to our streets. They are responsible for anything he may do.
“This should never have happened in the first place. Illegal immigrants ought to be deported within a week – but the Labour government is too weak to do that.
“Whether it’s a migrant who had been removed breaking back into the UK, the collapse of the rape gang inquiry, new China spying revelations, record illegal entries and now this – it’s been another litany of failure from the Home Office and home secretary this week.”The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, said she was struggling not to call for HMP Chelmsford’s governor to resign.
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