Prisons will begin enhanced checks before inmates are released after an asylum seeker who sexually assaulted a teenager was mistakenly allowed to walk free.
Justice Secretary David Lammy is expected to set out a series of steps aimed at strengthening the prison system as he faces questions about the debacle from MPs in Parliament.
Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford in Essex on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
Kebatu had been jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while resident at the Bell Hotel in Epping.
He travelled to London after his release and was seen in Dalston before being arrested on Sunday morning in Finsbury Park.
The father of Kebatu’s teenage victim said he hopes the sex offender will be “deported immediately”.
The justice secretary said that should happen in the coming week.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed told broadcasters on Monday morning that he shared their “frustration and fury” as he conceded the justice system was “broken”.
He said that Mr Lammy would be announcing “a strengthened series of checks” later on Monday “to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again”.
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 the previous 12 months.
Mr Reed insisted there had been no change in policy under Labour that led to the rise and blamed the situation on the previous Tory administration.
“If the previous government cut the number of staff by a third, if they fail to build prison places, I’m afraid then disasters will happen,” he told Times Radio.
Mr Lammy told broadcasters on Sunday afternoon that Kebatu needs to be questioned by police before he is deported, adding: “I can assure you that he will be deported as he was expected to be deported.
“I expect that to happen this week.”
He also said he will announce an independent inquiry into what happened in Parliament on Monday following widespread condemnation of the error among opposition critics.
Following Kebatu’s arrest, Chelmsford’s Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman called for a “rapid” national probe, saying: “It’s unacceptable that the safety of my constituents, and the people of London, was ever put at risk.”
“The prison service had several chances to fix it and failed.
“The Government has serious questions to answer and major work to do to make the system fit for purpose. It certainly isn’t at the moment.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Mr Lammy and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had questions to answer over the case, and should apologise “for their failures”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said that “under Labour, victims are failed, criminals walk free and trust in policing has collapsed”.
Reform head of policy Zia Yusuf questioned how sexual assault victims could have confidence in the system.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed an investigation has been ordered to establish what went wrong, adding: “We must make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
A prison officer has been suspended while a probe takes place.
It is understood Kebatu, who crossed the Channel in a small boat to enter the UK on 29 June, left prison with an amount of personal money but was not given a discharge grant to cover subsistence costs.
He was convicted of making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old girl before he tried to kiss her on 7 July – just eight days after he arrived in the country on a small boat.
His trial also heard that a day later, he sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty.
The woman later called 999 after she spotted him being inappropriate to the same teenage girl who he sexually assaulted while she was wearing her school uniform.
Kebatu was found guilty of five offences after a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester Magistrates’ Courts in September, and his sentencing hearing heard it was his “firm wish” to be deported.
In court, he gave his date of birth through a translator as being in December 1986, making him 38 years old, although Essex Police have said their records state his date of birth is in December 1983, making him 41.
Kebatu’s crime sparked protests and counter-protests on the streets in Epping, and eventually outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.
