On Friday, October 24, 2025, a critical error at HMP Chelmsford led to the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Essex just months prior. Instead of being transferred to an immigration detention centre for deportation, Kebatu was set free, sparking a major police manhunt and igniting fierce debate across the UK about the state of the prison and immigration systems.
Kebatu, who arrived in Britain on a small boat earlier in the year, had been living at The Bell Hotel in Epping when he committed his offences on July 7, 2025. According to The Independent, his actions—trying to kiss a teenage girl on a bench, making sexually explicit comments, and later assaulting both the girl and a woman who offered to help him—prompted widespread protests outside the hotel and at similar sites housing asylum seekers nationwide.
Following a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester magistrates’ courts in September, Kebatu was found guilty of five offences. The court sentenced him to 12 months in prison, imposed a five-year sexual harm prevention order, and required him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years. The sentencing judge, District Judge Christopher Williams, highlighted the significant risk Kebatu posed of reoffending and remarked, “Your behaviour really highlights the poor regard you must have for women.”
Yet, just 108 days after his arrest, Kebatu was mistakenly released. Essex Police confirmed that at 12:41 p.m. on October 24, he boarded a London-bound train at Chelmsford railway station, heading for Liverpool Street. The force was notified of the error by the Prison Service at 12:57 p.m., prompting an urgent search. Videos obtained by MailOnline and other outlets showed a man resembling Kebatu walking through Chelmsford town centre in a grey tracksuit and carrying a plastic bag, less than 400 yards from the nearest police station.
The blunder, described by a senior justice source as “the mother of all f---ups,” was traced to a human error: Kebatu was misclassified as a prisoner due to be released on licence, rather than a foreign offender scheduled for deportation. As a result, he was even handed a £76 subsistence payment—standard for newly released prisoners—to cover his first week’s expenses. The officer responsible for authorizing the release has since been removed from duty while a full investigation is underway.
Justice Secretary David Lammy did not mince words in his response, telling reporters, “I’m livid. I’m livid on behalf of the public that this individual who committed a sexual assault on a young minor and a woman is at large tonight.” Lammy emphasized that Kebatu “should be deported back to Ethiopia after the sexual assaults that he’s committed,” and confirmed that officers from Essex Police, Metropolitan Police, and British Transport Police were working together with “all hands on deck” to track him down.
The prime minister echoed Lammy’s outrage, stating, “The police are working urgently to track him down and my government is supporting them. This man must be caught and deported for his crimes.” The mistaken release, the prime minister said, was “utterly unacceptable.”
Marie Goldman, Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, called for a rapid public inquiry once the manhunt concludes. “The police must do everything they can to ensure that this man is returned to custody immediately so that he is deported at once,” she said in a statement to The Independent. “Once the manhunt is over, there must be a full, rapid public inquiry into how this happened. This is utterly unacceptable and has potentially put my constituents in danger. I expect answers from the Prison Service.”
Other political voices have also weighed in. Neil Hudson, the Conservative MP for Epping Forest, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that his constituents were “deeply distressed” by the release and insisted, “The buck has to stop somewhere, and it has to stop at the top, at the justice secretary, the home secretary and the prime minister.” Kemi Badenoch, Conservative Party leader, called the release “a level of incompetence that beggars belief,” while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage declared, “He is now walking the streets of Essex. Britain is broken.”
John Podmore, a former governor of HMP Brixton, Belmarsh, and Swaleside, provided a sobering assessment of the situation, telling BBC Radio 4, “This is not one person making one decision, there should be checks by a range of people up and down the hierarchy. It should be seen in the context of wider failure. I am afraid this is what happens in a broken system and the prison system is broken. This is a symptom of a wider failure of the prison and the probation service.”
The error comes amid a sharp rise in mistaken releases from prisons in England and Wales. According to a report from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, 262 prisoners were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025, more than double the 115 released in the previous year. The incident has reignited debate about the capacity and management of the UK’s prison and immigration systems, with critics from across the political spectrum demanding accountability and reform.
For residents of Epping and Chelmsford, the news has been especially unsettling. The original offences occurred just months after Kebatu arrived in the UK, and the subsequent protests outside The Bell Hotel underscored the community’s anxiety over the placement of asylum seekers in local accommodation. The mistaken release has only deepened those concerns, with many questioning the safeguards in place to protect the public from individuals deemed a risk.
The UK Borders Act 2007 mandates deportation for foreign nationals convicted of offences resulting in custodial sentences of at least 12 months. In Kebatu’s case, the court heard it was his “firm wish” to be deported, yet the system failed to ensure he was transferred to an immigration detention centre as required. The fact that he was released with a discharge payment, rather than being securely detained ahead of removal, has raised serious questions about bureaucratic oversight and communication between the prison and immigration services.
As the manhunt continues, authorities are urging anyone with information about Kebatu’s whereabouts to contact police immediately. Public protection, officials insist, remains the top priority. In the words of a Prison Service spokesperson, “We are urgently working with police to return an offender to custody following a release in error at HMP Chelmsford. Public protection is our top priority, and we have launched an investigation into this incident.”
While the search for Kebatu unfolds, the incident has become a flashpoint in broader debates about criminal justice, immigration, and government accountability. It’s a stark reminder—if anyone needed one—of the real-world consequences when systems meant to safeguard the public falter at critical moments.
