A migrant who was mistakenly released from prison in a huge blunder has been deported back to his home country of Ethiopia.
Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning, instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre as intended.
The mistake prompted a two-day manhunt before the sex offender was found and re-arrested on Sunday morning in London.
On Wednesday morning, he arrived in Ethiopia after being deported from the UK with no right to return, the Home Office announced.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Last week’s blunder should never have happened – and I share the public’s anger that it did. I would like to thank the police for rapidly bringing Kebatu into custody and the public for their vigilance.
Last week’s blunder should never have happened – and I share the public’s anger that it did. I would like to thank the police for rapidly bringing Mr Kebatu into custody and the public for their vigilance.
— Shabana Mahmood MP (@ShabanaMahmood) October 29, 2025
I have pulled every lever to deport Mr Kebatu and remove him off British…
“I have pulled every lever to deport Mr Kebatu and remove him off British soil. I am pleased to confirm this vile child sex offender has been deported. Our streets are safer because of it.
“If you come to this country and commit crimes, we will remove you.”
The asylum seeker had been residing at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex when he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman, sparking protests.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and was due to be deported last week when he was mistakenly released instead.
It is understood that Kebatu left prison with some personal money but did not receive a discharge grant.
However, the border security minister on Wednesday could not confirm whether Kebatu received a cash payment to return to Ethiopia.
Asked whether Kebatu had been given money on exiting the country, as is sometimes the case when a migrant leaves voluntarily, Alex Norris told ITV: “I can’t tell you on the cash piece.
“I know that early in the process, he had asked for that and was denied… we do it sometimes to make a removal easier because it saves the taxpayer money, but I can’t tell in this case.”
In June, the The Independent revealed the UK has paid migrants £53m to leave the country over the past four years.
Under a voluntary return scheme run by the government, migrants can receive up to £3,000 as an incentive to return to their home country, as part of what are known as “assisted returns”. They also have their flights paid for as part of the deal.
The Home Office insists the voluntary return scheme is a “much more cost-effective alternative for the taxpayer” than paying for accommodation and support for those facing deportation from the UK.
On Saturday, as police chiefs made a direct appeal to Kebatu, an interview was aired by Sky News with a delivery driver who said he spoke to him while delivering a fridge at the time of his release.
The driver, Sim, said Kebatu knew he was supposed to be deported and kept asking prison staff “what to do”, returning to the prison reception “four or five times”, waiting outside the prison for roughly “an hour and a half” before leaving.
Sim said that a member of prison staff “told him that he had to get on a train” and directed Kebatu to Chelmsford station to catch a train to London, telling him: “You’re released, you’re released.”
The incident has prompted an independent inquiry to find out what went wrong, and a prison officer has been suspended while the probe is carried out.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the incident was “unacceptable”.
“We must get to the bottom of what happened,” he said.
“I have established an independent investigation chaired by Dame Lynne Owens into last Friday’s events to get the public the answers they rightly deserve, and we have introduced the strictest checks ever seen in our prison system to stop similar unacceptable errors in future.”
Mr Lammy told MPs on Monday that Kebatu was released in “what appears to have been in human error”.
He was convicted of making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old girl before trying to kiss her on 7 July, just eight days after his arrival.
His trial heard the following day that he sexually assaulted a woman by attempting to kiss her, placing his hand on her leg, and telling her she was “pretty”.
After a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester Magistrates’ Courts in September, Kebatu was found guilty of five offences.
His crimes sparked protests on the streets of Epping, spreading to demonstrations outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.
The Tory MP for Epping Forest has said he is “very relieved” at Kebatu’s deportation, but “this hasn’t gone away for the people of Epping”.
He said people have been “expressing huge frustration with me” at the situation, adding: “There are significant management and safeguarding issues related to this hotel, and actually, what we need to see is that the hotel needs to be closed.
“This is the wrong hotel in the wrong place, right near the forest, right near two schools.”
Kebatu’s case has renewed scrutiny of prison procedures after a series of mistaken releases across the country.
Prison Officers’ Association national chair Mark Fairhurst told the BBC that Kebatu was one of several prisoners mistakenly released in the past week, and that such incidents have been a “regular occurrence” over the last 12 months.
He added: “Over the last seven days, there’s been five releases in errors from five separate prisons.”
Mr Fairhurst told PA that two mistaken releases were made from HMP Pentonville, in north London, with the others at HMP Durham, The Mount prison in Hertfordshire and from Reading Crown Court.
No prison officers have been suspended over the other five releases, he said.
The Ministry of Justice disputed the number of prisoners released in error but confirmed some took place in the last seven days.
One prisoner is still at large after being mistakenly freed, it is understood.
According to government figures published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 – a 128 per cent increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.
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