Convicted sex offender Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was accidentally freed from prison because of ‘human error’, David Lammy has said.
Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker, was jailed after trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl in Epping, near London, in July.
The 38-year-old also sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty.
Following his conviction in September, Kebatu was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday, just one month into his one-year sentence.
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He travelled from the Essex city to Dalston, east London, where he was spotted on CCTV carrying an avocado-print tote bag in a library.
Kebatu was arrested in Finsbury Park, north London, yesterday morning while he was sitting on a park bench.
Justice Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons this afternoon that Kebatu will be ‘transported for deportation back to Ethiopia as quickly as possible’.
Kebatu was due to be transported to ‘an immigration removal centre from which he was to be deported’, but was freed due to ‘human error’.
Lammy said: ‘Concerns were raised about the release to the duty governor, and following checks, staff were dispatched to locate him.
‘When it became clear that he was no longer in the vicinity of the prison, Essex Police were notified and a manhunt began.’
Currently, one prison officer has been suspended at HMP Chelmsford.
The deputy prime minister added that an independent investigation has been launched by retired senior police officer Dame Lynne Owens.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson blamed the increase in prison release blunders on the Conservative government, ‘having suffered cuts to staffing, failure to build prison places’ and ‘chronic underinvestment’.
About 262 prisoners were released in error in the 12 months to March 2025 – a 128% increase from 115 the previous year, according to figures.
A former prison guard told Metro that wrongly releasing an inmate is the ‘worst mistake any officer can make’, often the result of a litany of failings.
‘There’s not just one point of failure and shouldn’t be put on the officer who was at the reception desk to release him,’ the anonymous ex-guard said.
HMP Chelmsford, he added, is infamous among prison officials for being ‘crowded but understaffed’.
In May last year, 711 inmates were housed in the lock-up, according to a prison inspection report. Inspectors found nearly seven in 10 inmates shared a cell intended for one person.
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