On Friday, October 24, 2025, what should have been a routine transfer from HMP Chelmsford to an immigration detention centre turned into a national scandal. Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Essex just weeks after arriving in the UK, was mistakenly released from prison. The error sparked a frantic two-day manhunt across London, reignited fierce debate about the UK’s prison system, and left many questioning how such a blunder could happen in a country with one of the most surveilled capitals in Europe.
Kebatu’s case was already notorious. According to The Guardian, his crimes in July 2025—committed just eight days after he arrived in the UK on a small boat and was housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping—triggered protests and counter-protests across the country. He was found guilty in September 2025 of two sexual assaults, harassment, incitement to sexual activity, and attempted sexual assault, and sentenced to 12 months in prison along with a five-year sexual harm prevention order. The court heard that it was his "firm wish" to be deported, a sentiment echoed by his victim’s family, who hoped for his immediate removal from the UK.
Instead of being handed over to the Home Office for deportation, Kebatu was mistakenly released alongside other prisoners on Friday morning. Reports from The Times and The Independent describe a scene of confusion: Kebatu, unsure of what to do, returned to the prison several times asking officers for help, only to be turned away and eventually directed toward the town centre and train station. He was even reportedly given a £76 subsistence allowance by prison staff, further compounding the error. It took over an hour before anyone at HMP Chelmsford realized he was missing and raised the alarm.
By that time, Kebatu had already made his way to London. CCTV footage and public tip-offs traced his movements through Chelmsford, a library in Dalston, and eventually to Finsbury Park, where he was arrested on Sunday, October 26. The authorities credited the public with his capture, drawing uncomfortable comparisons to the 2023 escape of terror suspect Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth, which was also resolved thanks to a tip-off.
The fallout was immediate and severe. Justice Secretary David Lammy addressed the House of Commons, calling the mistake “unacceptable” and promising that Kebatu would be deported to Ethiopia “as quickly as possible.” According to BBC News, Lammy announced an independent investigation chaired by Dame Lynne Owens, former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to “fully establish the facts” and assess whether staff had “sufficient experience, training and technology.” The investigation will also examine the effect of the incident on Kebatu’s victims and make recommendations to prevent similar errors in the future.
“I've been clear from the outset that a mistake of this nature is unacceptable,” Lammy told MPs. “We must get to the bottom of what happened and take immediate action to try and prevent similar releases in error to protect the public from harm.” He added, “A single release in error is one too many, which is why we have launched this independent investigation.”
The government responded with a raft of new procedures, including a rule that foreign criminals facing deportation can only be released from prison when a duty governor is physically present. Lammy also ordered an urgent review of release checks and claimed that new safeguards amounted to the “strongest release checks that have ever been in place.” However, the Prison Governors' Association and prison staff expressed skepticism. According to The Guardian, they warned that the additional checks would increase workloads and slow down the system, and questioned whether these measures would truly address the underlying issues.
One prison officer, a custodial manager responsible for checking release documents, was suspended pending the investigation. The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) objected, arguing that more senior staff were also involved in the error and that the suspension was unjust. “One of our members has been unjustly suspended because he is not the only one involved in this entire process. Our thoughts are with him and we will fully support him,” said Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the POA, in comments to The Independent.
The scale of the problem quickly became apparent. Government figures revealed that 262 prisoners were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025—a staggering 128% increase from the 115 the previous year. Mistaken releases have been rising year-on-year, from an average of nine per month in 2023 to 17 per month in the first half of 2024. Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor described the situation as “endemic,” blaming staff shortages, high turnover, and inexperienced personnel left with large caseloads. “Prisoners being released early, in error, or even late is now an endemic problem that needs to be fixed,” Taylor told The Guardian.
The roots of the crisis, according to Lammy and other government officials, lie in years of austerity and cuts to the prison service. Lammy pointed to a 30% reduction in prison staffing under the previous Conservative government, with more than half of frontline officers now having less than five years’ experience. “It's little wonder when the system has been brought to its knees that errors like this happen,” Lammy said in Parliament. Housing Secretary Steve Reed echoed these sentiments, calling for the criminal justice system to be “rebuilt from the bottom up.” He told The Independent, “One-third of professional staff in the criminal justice system have been got rid of under the previous government. We’re having to rebuild it from the bottom up.”
HMP Chelmsford, where the error occurred, has a troubled history. The prison’s most recent inspection report, covering January and February 2024, cited “considerable pressures” due to national capacity issues and noted shortages in both reception and pre-release teams. Previous inspections had branded the jail “violent and unsafe,” and special measures implemented as far back as 2018 were deemed “largely ineffective in improving outcomes.”
The public’s reaction has been one of anger and disbelief. Kebatu’s victims and their families expressed shock and concern at the release, while local MP Marie Goldman called for a rapid, national inquiry. The Ministry of Justice, for its part, referred all inquiries to Lammy’s statement in the Commons.
For many, the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu is not just a singular blunder but a symptom of a system under extreme strain. The combination of chronic understaffing, high prisoner turnover, and mounting maintenance backlogs—now approaching £2 billion—has left prisons across England and Wales operating at the brink. One in four prisoners is locked in a jail that is not fire-safe, and hundreds remain in cells without toilets.
As Kebatu awaits deportation, the government faces mounting pressure to address the systemic failures that allowed his release to happen. Whether the new safeguards and independent investigation will bring meaningful change remains to be seen. But for now, the episode stands as a stark warning of what can happen when an overstretched system meets human error—and the public is left to wonder who will be held accountable the next time.
