Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, was at the center of a political and public firestorm this week after a series of blunders and controversial decisions by British authorities. Kebatu, who had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday, October 24, 2025, instead of being transferred to an immigration detention center as intended. This error set off a two-day manhunt across London, culminating in his arrest on Sunday morning, October 26.
According to Sky News, Kebatu claimed in an interview that he had tried to hand himself in to police the day before his arrest. He recounted, “I [told] police, ‘Look here, police I am wanted man, I am arrested, I will give you my hand, please help where is police station?’ He ignored me, he drove [off].” Kebatu insisted he identified himself and explained his situation, hoping officers would take him into custody. However, the Metropolitan Police swiftly denied these claims, stating on October 30, “The Met is not aware of any evidence to support the claims that Kebatu approached officers on Saturday morning. The actions of officers who responded to the sighting of him on Sunday morning show how seriously they were taking the manhunt. Kebatu’s actions on the morning of his arrest were more like those of someone trying to avoid officers, not trying to hand himself in.”
After his arrest, the saga took an even stranger turn. The Home Office confirmed that Kebatu was forcibly removed to Ethiopia on the night of Tuesday, October 28, 2025, accompanied by a team of five immigration security escorts. He arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday morning, October 29, and, as the Home Office emphasized, has no right to return to Britain. But the circumstances of his departure have triggered a wave of political outrage and public debate.
Central to the controversy was the revelation that Kebatu received a £500 payment from the British government to facilitate his removal. Downing Street described the payment as an “operational decision” made after Kebatu threatened to disrupt his deportation flight. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman explained, “Given Kebatu threatened to disrupt the flight, an operational decision was taken to provide a £500 payment to facilitate his return. The alternative was a slower, more expensive process for the taxpayer, which would have included detention, a new flight and potentially fighting subsequent legal claims, and the cost of cancelling the flight alone would have run into several thousands of pounds.”
Policing minister Sarah Jones defended the move, telling Sky News, “So the choice was £500 versus £10,000 and I think in terms of use of taxpayers’ money, that was the right decision to make.” She acknowledged the decision was “galling,” adding, “It does for me. It does for most people.” She further clarified on LBC, “I think there has always been a system where some payments are sometimes made in order to get people on the planes and get them out of the country. I don’t think that is a new thing.”
The payment was not part of the government’s facilitated return scheme, which offers resettlement grants of up to £1,500 to foreign nationals who agree to leave voluntarily. Kebatu had applied for this program, but his application was denied. Instead, the £500 was described as a discretionary, one-off operational payment to avoid higher costs and complications. Ministers did not approve the payment, which was made by civil servants involved in the deportation process.
Commenting on the removal, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood stated, “I have pulled every lever to deport Kebatu and remove him off British soil. I am pleased to confirm this vile child sex offender has been deported. Our streets are safer because of it.” Prisons minister Lord James Timpson echoed this sentiment, saying, “The £500 that was paid was an operational decision to get Kebatu on a plane without any delays. It’s far cheaper than booking more flights, and it’s far cheaper than him being in a cell for another year, which is £54,000. I also think it was a sensible decision by civil servants, and it was in a golfing analogy ‘If someone wants to give you a putt, you take it’. He needed to get on the plane and get back to Ethiopia.”
But the episode has not ended quietly. The payment has been fiercely criticized by political figures across the spectrum. Kemi Badenoch argued, “We have said we need to leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and deport all foreign criminals as soon as possible, and we certainly shouldn’t be giving them taxpayers’ money to leave our country.” The Liberal Democrats described the payment as “outrageous,” with home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson stating, “Public trust was completely trashed after Kebatu’s wrongful release and now this. We need to fix our fundamentally broken immigration system.” Reform UK’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, accused the government of “failing to keep its people safe, failing to lock up criminals, and wasting endless amounts of taxpayer money while doing so.”
The situation has also reignited debate over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, with protests erupting outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, where Kebatu had lived prior to his conviction. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged public frustration, noting that the number of hotels used for asylum accommodation had decreased from around 400 to just over 200, but the anger remains palpable.
David Wood, former director general of immigration enforcement, weighed in on the operational side, telling The Telegraph, “If offenders start fighting, biting, spitting on a plane, a lot of captains will throw them off because of the disruption to other passengers. In my time, in those cases, we’d get them on a charter plane instead. But we wouldn’t have given them money – it’s not right and would be of no benefit when an enforced removal was being planned.”
Upon arrival in Ethiopia, Kebatu was briefly held by local officers before being released, with police telling the BBC there was “no legal basis for his continued detention.” The British government has promised an inquiry into how Kebatu was mistakenly released, with David Lammy expected to report back “within a few months max.”
The facilitated return scheme, which Kebatu was denied, has been in place since 2006 and has seen foreign national offenders receive grants to encourage cooperation with removal. In September, ITV News reported that 47 foreign criminals were deported to Romania, several with bank cards pre-loaded with funds under the scheme. However, the payment to Kebatu stands out as a one-off operational decision, not a standard grant.
The Kebatu affair has exposed not only failings in the prison and immigration system but also the complex, often fraught calculations that underpin deportation policies. With an inquiry pending and political pressure building, it’s clear that this story is far from over—and that the public’s trust in the system remains on shaky ground.
