![\"Hadush](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2.82137390.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEthiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl\n<\/p>\n
Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl and was freed from HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police, which is leading the manhunt for the migrant who had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, made a direct appeal Kebatu to hand himself in.<\/p>\n
They revealed that he had taken \u201ca number of journeys\u201d across London since his release on Friday and had \u201caccess to funds\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was accidentally released from jail (Essex Police\/PA)<\/p>\n
He was wrongly categorised as a prisoner due to be released on licence, handed a \u00a376 discharge grant and was last seen getting off a train at Stratford in east London at 1.12pm on Friday.<\/p>\n
A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return to HMP Chelmsford in a \u201cvery confused\u201d state \u201cfour or five times\u201d, only to be turned away by prison staff and directed to the railway station.<\/p>\n
The driver, named only as Sim, told Sky News that he saw Kebatu come out of the prison saying: \u201cWhere am I going? What am I doing?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Hadush](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2.81365557.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was arrested after sexually assaulting a girl (Crown Prosecution Service\/PA)<\/p>\n
News in 90 Seconds – Saturday, October 25 <\/p>\n
He said that Kebatu knew that he should be deported but the prison staff were \u201cbasically sending him away\u201d and saying to him \u201cGo, you\u2019ve been released, you go\u201d.<\/p>\n
The driver said: \u201cHe kept scratching his head and saying, \u2018where do I go, where do I go?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fourth or fifth time (he went into the reception) he was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sticking up for the guy, but in my eyes, he was trying to do the right thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew he was getting deported, but he didn\u2019t know where he was going or how he should get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman confirmed that the account was accurate.<\/p>\n
Kebatu was spotted later in Chelmsford town centre asking for assistance before getting on a train to London.<\/p>\n
Commander James Conway, of the Metropolitan Police, said: \u201cMr Kebatu made his way to Chelmsford train station following his release from prison and boarded a train which departed at 12.42pm arriving in Stratford station at 1.12pm yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Kebatu was released wearing a prison-issued, grey tracksuit and holding a clear, plastic bag containing his possessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has since made a number of train journeys across the London area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe he has access to funds, and critically, in both Chelmsford and London, we believe he has sought assistance from members of the public, and has spoken to station staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Conway asked for members of the public who have provided Kebatu with assistance to contact them or anyone who sees him to call 999.<\/p>\n
In a direct appeal to Kebatu, he added: \u201cWe want to locate you in a safe and controlled way.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had already indicated a desire to return to Ethiopia when speaking to immigration staff, the best outcome for you is to make contact directly with us by either calling 999 or reporting yourself to a police station.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stratford station is the fifth busiest in the UK, according to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), and has links to the London underground, London overground and Docklands Light Railway (DLR).<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer said he was \u201cappalled\u201d at the accidental release and said it was \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d, adding: \u201cThis man must be caught and deported for his crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he was \u201clivid on behalf of the public\u201d and added that he had launched an investigation.<\/p>\n
A prison officer has been taken off duties to discharge prisoners while an investigation takes place.<\/p>\n
In the 12 months to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error in England and Wales, according to the prison service\u2019s annual digest which was a 128% increase from 115 the previous year with 233 involving prisons.<\/p>\n
A report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, after an inspection in January and February 2024, said HMP Chelmsford faced \u201cconsiderable pressures\u201d because of \u201cnational capacity issues\u201d while suffering staff shortfalls in reception and the pre-release team.<\/p>\n
Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat eight days before the incidents in July, was convicted of making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old girl before he tried to kiss her on July 7 \u2013 just eight days after he arrived in the country on a small boat.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This woman later called 999 after she spotted him being inappropriate to the same teenage girl whom he sexually assaulted while she was wearing her school uniform.<\/p>\n
The migrant was found guilty of five offences after a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester magistrates\u2019 courts in September.<\/p>\n
The court heard at his sentencing hearing that it was his \u201cfirm wish\u201d to be deported.<\/p>\n
In court, Kebatu 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.<\/p>\n
It is understood the Home Office was ready to take him to an immigration removal centre before a planned deportation.<\/p>\n
Kebatu\u2019s case led to protesters and counter-protesters taking to the streets in Epping, Essex, and eventually outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-145292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topstories","20":"tag-world","21":"tag-world-news","22":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115437223562692762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}