{"id":525703,"date":"2025-10-24T22:34:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T22:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/525703\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T22:34:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T22:34:16","slug":"uk-police-hunt-for-an-imprisoned-asylum-seeker-who-was-released-in-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/525703\/","title":{"rendered":"UK police hunt for an imprisoned asylum-seeker who was released in error"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — An asylum-seeker<\/a> sentenced to 12 months in a British prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl was mistakenly released Friday, prompting an urgent police search for a man whose case had prompted anti-migrant protests. <\/p>\n

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, the catalyst behind a wave of angry protests<\/a> against migrants across the U.K. during the summer, was freed by mistake at the prison in Chelmsford ahead of his deportation.<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was \u201cappalled\u201d at the \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d release of the 38-year-old sex offender.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police are working urgently to track him down and my government is supporting them,” Starmer said. \u201cThis man must be caught and deported for his crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details of how Kebatu ended up being released remained sketchy, but Essex Police, northeast of London, said they were alerted just before 1 p.m. to \u201can error this morning surrounding the release of an individual.\u201d They said officers were \u201cworking to urgently locate and detain him\u201d after he was seen catching a train at Chelmsford.<\/p>\n

The Prison Service launched an investigation, and a prison officer has been removed from discharging duties while that takes place.<\/p>\n

Aaron Stow, president of the Criminal Justice Workers\u2019 Union, which represents prison officers, said Kebatu\u2019s mistaken release is \u201ca profound failure of duty\u201d and a \u201cbetrayal of the victims, the community, and the principles of justice.\u201d <\/p>\n

Kebatu was found guilty last month of five offenses, including sexual assault, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and harassment.<\/p>\n

Kebatu\u2019s arrest and prosecution prompted thousands of people to protest outside the Bell Hotel in Epping<\/a>, northeast of London, where he was staying along with other newly arrived migrants. Multiple protests targeting other hotels housing migrants followed in other British cities and towns, with some demonstrations attended by far-right activists and spilling into disorder.<\/p>\n

The group Stand up to Racism also rallied in counterprotests.<\/p>\n

Kebatu had arrived in England by boat just over a week before the July day when he was adjudged to have approached the 14-year-old in Epping, attempted to kiss her and placed his hand on the girl’s thigh. They said he also sexually assaulted a female member of the public who intervened.<\/p>\n

Kebatu’s lawyer said he wanted to be deported after serving his time in prison. <\/p>\n

Tensions have long simmered over unauthorized migration \u2014 especially the tens of thousands of migrants crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats to reach the U.K. \u2014 as well as the Labour government\u2019s policy of using hotels to house migrants<\/a> who are awaiting a decision on their asylum status. Critics say it costs taxpayers millions of pounds, while the hotels become flashpoints in communities and leave migrants feeling targeted by local residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — An asylum-seeker sentenced to 12 months in a British prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[170549,3907,34744,5108,748,7144,393,4179,4884,170548,40,2003,1144,14618,13216,712,34745,16,15,1764,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-525703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-170549","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-assault","12":"tag-asylum","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-criminal-punishment","15":"tag-england","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-immigrant-detention","19":"tag-immigration","20":"tag-law-enforcement","21":"tag-northern-ireland","22":"tag-prisons","23":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","24":"tag-scotland","25":"tag-sexual-assault","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom","28":"tag-wales","29":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115431530359807923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}