Met urges Epping migrant sex offender to hand himself over

The Metropolitan Police has issued a direct appeal to a migrant sex offender to hand himself in, after he was mistakenly released from a prison in Essex on Friday and traveled to east London.

Hadush Kebatu was set free weeks after being jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex, while staying in a hotel.

Cmd James Conway said on Saturday the force was “pursuing all lines of inquiry” into his disappearance, adding that Kebatu had access to funds and had sought assistance from members of the public.

He has made a number of train journeys across London since he boarded a train at 12:41 on Friday afternoon, before getting off at Stratford, Conway added.

In a direct appeal to Kebatu, Conway said: “We want to locate you in a safe and controlled way. You had already indicated a desire to return to Ethiopia when speaking to immigration staff.

“The best outcome for you is to make contact directly with us by either calling 999 or reporting yourself to a police station.”

On Saturday evening, police released CCTV footage that showed Kebatu in a library in the Dalston area of ​​Hackney, north London, at around 18:00 on Friday, still wearing his prison-issue gray tracksuit.

He was seen carrying his belongings in a distinctive white bag decorated with pictures of avocados.

Officers said Kebatu was sighted again shortly before 20:00 on Friday in the Dalston area.

Additional officers had been deployed to the area, the Met said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy has ordered candidates to be chosen to lead an independent investigation into the error.

In addition, new procedures for prisons will come into effect on Monday, mandating additional checks the evening before a release is due to take place.

Duty governors – responsible for the daily secure operation of the prison – will have to confirm the procedure is in place on Monday.

Kebatu left prison wearing a prison-issued gray tracksuit, holding a clear plastic bag containing his possessions, the Met said.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made against him, when he was sentenced in September, on the grounds the judge agreed he posed a risk of sexual harm to female adults and children.

Earlier, Essex Police – who handed the lead of the investigation to the Met at 11:30 on Saturday – said: “It is not lost on us that this situation is concerning people, and we are committed to locating and arresting him as quickly as possible.”

It is not clear exactly what led to his release, but prison sources have told the BBC prison staff from HMP Chelmsford led Kebatu away from the prison and towards the train station.

A prison officer from HMP Chelmsford has been suspended, but a senior prison staffer said the error was “down to a series of mistakes, probably because staff are overworked and in short supply”.

“It’s not just one prison officer who’s to blame. That would be unfair,” they added.

The search for Kebatu began at 12:57 on Friday after Essex Police were informed by the Prison Service that there had been “an error”.

The train Kebatu boarded at Chelmsford station stopped at Stratford at 13:10, where the Met Police say he then disembarked.

Stratford is the UK’s fifth busiest train stationwith interchanges to the London Underground, London Overground and Dockland’s Light Railway (DLR).

Sir Keir Starmer previously described the release as “totally unacceptable” and said Kebatu “must be caught and deported for his crimes”.

John Podmore – a former governor of HMP Brixton, Belmarsh and Swaleside, and a former prison inspector – said the error should be seen “in the context of wider failure,” adding he hoped a “lower down official is not thrown under the bus”.

“I am afraid this is what happens in a broken system and the prison system is broken,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.

On Friday, Lammy said he was “appalled” and “livid on behalf of the public”.

He continued: “Let’s be clear Kebatu committed a nasty sexual assault involving a young child and a woman. And for those reasons this of course is very serious.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “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.”

Kebatu’s arrest in July sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been living after arriving in the UK on a small boat.

In September, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard Kebatu tried to kiss a teenage girl on a bench and made numerous sexually explicit comments.

The following day, he encountered the same girl and tried to kiss her before sexually assaulting her. He also sexually assaulted a woman who had offered to help him draft a CV to find work.

During the trial, Kebatu gave his date of birth as December 1986, making him 38, but court records suggested he was 41.

He was found guilty of five offenses and sentenced to 12 months. He was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which banned him from approaching or contacting any female, and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

The court heard it was his “firm wish” to be deported.

It is not clear where Kebatu was being deported to but under the UK Borders Act 2007a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offense and has received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.

Kebatu was arrested on July 8 and was released in error 108 days later. Upon his release he would have been eligible for a £76 discharge payment.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the release was a “level of incompetence that beggars belief”.

“Conservatives voted against Labour’s prisoner release program because it was putting predators back on our streets,” she said on X.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “He is now walking the streets of Essex. Britain is broken.”

A report from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service said 262 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 in the previous 12 months.