The same prison responsible for mistakenly releasing a migrant sex offender last week was also conned into freeing a fraudster two years ago.
An email disguised to look like Royal Courts of Justice correspondence was sent in June 2023 to HMP Chelmsford instructing the prison to releasing convicted fraudster Junead Ahmed on bail.
At the time Ahmed was awaiting sentence after he admitted to posing as a doctor in order to rent a property he could not afford and buy a home worth more than ÂŁ2 million.
Ahmed was released from custody later that day following the emailâs instructions, and it was only when the staff received more emails from the same address a day later ordering two other inmates to be freed they realised the emails were fake.
One of the emails named Charlotte Whittaker who was also released during the chaos.
A member of prison staff became suspicious of these orders and after further checks were conducted, the Royal Court of Justice verified that no release orders were made for the two men and that Ahmed was incorrectly released.
Essex police said the email appeared authentic because it contained a ânumber of identifying marksâ which led the staff to be easily deceived.
On 23 June, Essex Police re-arrested Ahmed who was hiding in the loft of his home for escaping lawful custody.
Later that day, Charlotte Whittaker was also arrested at her home and her phone was seized, which showed texts between her, Ahmed and his wife arranging to have two more prisoners escape.
On Friday, a three-day national manhunt was launched after Hadush Kebatu, a man who was convicted for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Epping was accidentally released by HMP Chelmsford.
The criminal was later arrested on Sunday morning and is being detained at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in West London.
Kebatu was supposed to be transferred to an immigration removal centre before being deported to his home country of Ethiopia.
He will now be awaiting a second flight to Ethiopia this week, after he missed the one he was originally supposed to be on during the mistaken release.
An officer was immediately fired on Friday as a result of the error following an internal investigation.
Addressing the House of Commons, David Lammy, The Justice secretary and deputy Prime Minister, was expected to announce an inquiry into the mistakes made, shedding more light on the failures of the prison.
Lammy stated that all prisons will now have to undergo advanced security measures before releasing any prisoners, including filling out a three-page compulsory checklist before inmates are released to prevent the error repeated in the future.
However, prison governors argue that this performative reaction from ministers will do nothing but increase already over-burdened prison staff workloads, adding an extra 45 minutes per prisoner.
These mistakes are becoming increasingly more common, with the number of prisoners freed in error having doubled in the last year. This is partly due to the governmentâs emergency release scheme brought in to tackle the overcrowding problem and lack of free jail cells.
In the year to March 2025, 262 prisoners were accidentally released, which was a 128 per cent rise on the 115 from last year.
The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, warned that the mistake of releasing Kebatu is endemic of a much bigger, sinister issue.
He said: âThis is a case that has hit the news because itâs an incredibly high-profile prisoner convicted of a very serious offence. But the worry is that below the radar, this stuff has been going on a lot recently and Iâm worried about it.â
