A former asylum seeker who was released from prison in error after sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl has been spotted boarding a London-bound train, Essex police said.
The deputy prime minister, David Lammy, said on Friday night Kebatu was now “at large in London” and the Metropolitan police was assisting in the search.
The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexual assault and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
The 41-year-old was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported but was freed by mistake, it has emerged, and police in Essex are now urgently trying to find him.
Isn’t the Met too busy chasing people already for HurtyWords™ made on Social Media™?
Jailed for 12 months on 24th September 2025 (https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/R-v-Hadush-Kebatu-1.pdf), released exactly 30 days later.
Strange how none of the ‘hurty words’ people are ever ‘mistakenly released’!?
Never
The cynic in me wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he was released *by accident* by a prison guard who was also an immigrant from the same country.
But “never mind, lessons will be learned and nothing to seen here will be the official responses”.