A migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison will be deported this week following his arrest after a two-day manhunt.
Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian citizen, was arrested in Finsbury Park, north London, at about 8.30am on Sunday after a member of the public reported seeing him at a nearby bus stop.
Photographs of the arrest showed Kebatu had changed from the prison-issue grey tracksuit he had been wearing when released, into jeans, a checked hoodie and a black puffer jacket.
An onlooker said he looked “dejected” as he was led away in handcuffs by four police officers after being arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large.
David Lammy, the justice secretary, said that Kebatu would be questioned by police before being removed from the country, adding: “He will be deported as he was expected to be deported. I expect that to happen this week.”
Lammy said he recognised the “anxious time” for Kebatu’s victims and their families and promised to announce a “full independent inquiry” in parliament on Monday. A prison officer has been suspended from duties pending the investigation.
Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, also confirmed that Kebatu would be deported, saying: “We have ordered an investigation to establish what went wrong. We must make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Kebatu filmed in Chelmsford
HMP Chelmsford, where Kebatu was being held before his mistaken release
ALISHIA ABODUNDE/GETTY IMAGES
Commander James Conway of the Metropolitan Police, who led the search, said: “Information from the public led officers to Finsbury Park and, following a search, they located Mr Kebatu. He was detained by police and will be returned to the custody of the prison service.”
A witness, Jack Neill-Hall, who saw Kebatu being escorted from the park, said that the fugitive appeared “calm” and “wasn’t trying to get away”.
He said: “He wasn’t saying anything but he looked very dejected. There’s a lot of rough sleeping in the park so I don’t know if he spent the night there. The police were carrying a plastic bag and a black duffel, so it looks like he was able to get some clothing and a bag from somewhere and his clothes had changed.
“I was aware that he had been in Hackney, which isn’t far and I did think that he must be around here somewhere, but it was a real shock to actually see him and I’m just glad he’s been found.”
Details have emerged of Kebatu’s movements, who was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in Epping, after he was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning.
A delivery driver said he saw Kebatu return to the prison “four or five times” in a confused state, asking staff where he was supposed to go.
The man, named only as Sim, told Sky News that prison officers repeatedly turned Kebatu away, telling him he had been released and should leave.
He said the offender “looked stressed” and appeared to be trying to do the right thing, but “didn’t know where he was going or how he should get there”. A member of prison staff reportedly directed him to Chelmsford railway station.
Kebatu caught a train from Chelmsford to London on Friday afternoon, getting off at Stratford in the east of the capital. He then made a number of train journeys across the London area and sought assistance from several members of the public.
He was spotted in a library in Dalston later on Friday evening, a few miles to the west and was later seen trying to get a free night’s stay at the nearby Premier Inn. It is understood that Kebatu left prison with a small amount of personal money but was not given a discharge grant to cover living costs.
Kebatu in Dalston on Friday
METROPOLITAN POLICE/PA
The father of the schoolgirl that Kebatu was convicted of sexually assaulting said his family felt “massively let down and infuriated” by the migrant’s accidental release from prison.
In a statement read by Shane Yerrell, an Epping Forest councillor, he said Kebatu being released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday due to a system failure was “unbelievably irresponsible”.
“Myself and my family feel massively let down and infuriated by HMP Chelmsford, the police, the justice system and our Labour government. They have all failed,” the statement read.
“Not just us as a family, but they have failed everyone in the country.”
Marie Goldman, the Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, said: “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 — a rapid, national inquiry must happen to get to the bottom of this.”
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said that he was “shocked that this inept Labour government let him out in the first place”, adding: “They should never have allowed his release. He should be immediately deported — he is quite clearly a risk to women and girls.”
Zia Yusuf, head of policy for Reform UK, said he was relieved that Kebatu had been recaptured, but called the blunder “absolutely shocking”. He told Sky News: “How any victim of sexual assault could look at this Labour government and have any degree of confidence is beyond me.”
Kebatu was convicted of making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old girl before trying to kiss her on July 7 — eight days after arriving in the UK. The next day, he sexually assaulted a woman by touching her leg and attempting to kiss her, before the same woman later saw him behaving inappropriately towards the schoolgirl again and called police.
During sentencing, the court heard that it was Kebatu’s “firm wish” to be deported after serving his sentence. He was initially listed as being 38 years old, but Essex police later confirmed his date of birth as December 1983, making him 41.
His conviction sparked protests in Epping and later outside hotels housing asylum seekers nationwide.