Epping manhunt latest: Buck stops with Starmer over jailed asylum seeker released in error, says MP

Essex Police said Kebatu was seen to catch a London-bound train at Chelmsford railway station at 12.41pm.

The Greater Anglia train stopped at Shenfield and Stratford before arriving at London Liverpool Street at 13.18pm, according to Trainline data.

It is understood Kebatu was accidentally freed on Friday morning at HMP Chelmsford.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “The Epping hotel migrant sex attacker has been accidentally freed rather than deported. He is now walking the streets of Essex. Britain is broken.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that Hadush Kebatu’s release was “staggering incompetence”.

He told Channel 4 News: “There is only one group of people to blame for this, and that is the Labour government.

“They’ve let out a dangerous sex offender who preyed on a 14-year-old girl just eight days after entering the country illegally, and now they’ve let him out.”

Convicted sex offender Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been seen in the London area, Essex Police said as a manhunt for the asylum seeker continues.

“Inquiries are continuing at pace this morning to locate and arrest a man following a Prison Service releasing error yesterday,” the force said in a statement on Saturday morning.

“Officers from Essex Police, the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police are working together in this fast-moving and complex investigation.

“Officers worked throughout the night to track his movements, including scouring hours of CCTV footage, and this work continues today.

“Our inquiries show that he was last seen in the London area, and this is our focus.

“We would urge anyone who sees him, knows where he is or has any information to call 999 immediately.

“We would like to thank the public for their support and the information they have already shared.

“It is not lost on us that this situation is concerning to people, and we are committed to locating and arresting him as quickly as possible.”

Sentencing Hadush Kebatu last month, a judge told him his behaviour “really highlights the poor regard you must have for women”.

The 38-year-old, who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incidents in July, told two teenagers he wanted to “have a baby with each of them” and attempted to kiss them, before going on to put his hand on one of the girls’ thighs and stroke her hair, his trial was told.

He was also found to have sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty.

The migrant was found guilty of five offences following a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester magistrates’ courts in September.

The court heard at his sentencing hearing it was his “firm wish” to be deported.

It is understood the Home Office was ready to take him to an immigration removal centre before a planned deportation from the UK.

Essex Police says the asylum seeker who was accidentally freed at HMP Chelmsford yesterday was last seen in London.

The force said that enquiries are “continuing at pace this morning”.

“Officers worked throughout the night to track his movements, including scouring hours of CCTV footage, and this work continues today,” Essex Police said.

“Our enquires show that he was last seen in the London area, and this is our focus.”

The force has encouraged anyone who sees him or knows where he is to call 999 immediately.

A report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons following an inspection in January and February 2024 said that HMP Chelmsford faced “considerable pressures” because of “national capacity issues” while suffering staff shortfalls in reception and the pre-release team.

It stated: “Leaders had faced considerable pressures over the past year because of national capacity issues.

“The remand and unsentenced population had risen to almost 70 per cent and the prison was now managing more admissions, transfers and immediate releases without additional resource.”

The report added: “The turnover of arrivals and releases was high and had increased by about a third in 2023 when compared with 2022.”

In the 12 months leading up to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error in England and Wales, according to the prison service’s annual digest.

“This is a 128 per cent increase from 115 the previous year, and the highest in the time series,” the report said.

“Of the 262 releases in error, 233 of these releases in error occurred from prison establishments, while 29 were released in error at the courts.”

Chelmsford’s Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman called for a rapid public inquiry into the release, adding that the problem was “far bigger than a member of staff”.

She said: “How could it possibly just be the responsibility of one single member of staff to decide whether to release or not a prisoner, or how to release a prisoner.

“So, I think there’s huge questions to be answered about this.”

Ms Goldman also told PA she had been “frustrated” by a lack of communication from HMP Chelmsford’s governor, Mark Howard, and said she was “struggling” not to call for him to resign.