sex offender hadush kebatu will be 'deported this week' after prison staff suspended

Kebatu had reportedly tried to return to prison himself because he knew there had been an error,but was repeatedly turned away.

A delivery driver,named as Sim told Sky News that he saw Kebatu loitering outside the prison for over an hour,as he was confused about where he should go,returning ‘four or five times’.

He claimed prison staff were ‘basically sending him away’ and saying to him: ‘Go,you’ve been released,you go.’

Kebatu was seen at a library in Dalston before he was arrested

Before his arrest this morning,he had been seen at a library in Dalston,with CCTV footage showing him still in his prison tracksuit,carrying his belongings in a white bag with avocados on it.

Kebatu’s crimes became known nationwide after they prompted a wave of protests outside asylum hotels. Demonstrators began to gather outside the hotel where he was staying in August,and protests spread to other hotels housing migrants.

Demonstrators gather outside The Civic Offices in a protest against housing of asylum seekers at The Bell Hotel in Epping on August 31,2025 (Picture: Getty)

The local council sought an injunction trying to ban the Bell Hotel from being used to house asylum seekers – but this was overturned after the government appealed.

Kebatu’s release caused major embarrassment for the government,with Justice Secretary David Lammy saying he was ‘livid’ on behalf of the public over the error.

This morning,Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘There does need to be accountability for such an egregious failure.’

UPDATE: Hadush Kebatu,who was released in error from HMP Chelmsford,has been arrested. Kebatu was located by Met officers near Finsbury Park at around 8.30am thanks to information received from a member of the public.He will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service.

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 26,2025

In a statement,the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Hadush Kebatu,has been arrested.

‘Kebatu was located by Met officers near Finsbury Park at around 8.30am thanks to information received from a member of the public.

‘He will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service.’

Former prison officer reveals shocking string of errors that would have led to mistaken release

An ex-prison officer has revealed exactly where it went wrong after a migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released.The  officer,who has worked in the UK’s most notorious high-security units including HMP Frankland,told Metro that releasing the wrong prisoner is ‘the worst mistake any officer can make’.He explained that what caused the actual mistake would have been down to human error – adding that incredibly it could have come down to the convict’s name being mispelled or the wrong file was grabbed. This would have then allowed Kebatu to simply walk out the door with the £76 discharge grant handed to him by the prison to cover his first week’s expenses. However,the officer pointed out there would have been at least 10 officers overseeing the release,and it should have been spotted long before his release form was signed.‘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 ex-prison officer explained. ‘The release plan is first communicated from the operations room,then to the managers on the wing,then to the officers who will get the prisoner and walk him to where he needs to be.’Read more here.Got a story?