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Police say Hadush Kebatu has access to funds, and may have been helped by members of the public, as ITV News’ Charanpreet Khaira reports
An asylum seeker mistakenly released prison was last seen in East London on Friday evening, the Metropolitan Police have said.
The search for Hadush Kebatu entered its third day on Sunday, after he was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning, instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
The Ethiopian national was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of of a 14-year-old girl in Epping. Reports of his crimes triggered months of anti-immigration protests and counter-protests, which began at the Bell Hotel in Epping, where Kebatu had been living, eventually spreading to other areas of the country.
The Metropolitan Police issued CCTV of Kebatu in a library in Hackney, East London taken at 6pm on Friday. In the images, Kebatu is carrying his belongings in a “distinctive white bag with pictures of avocados on it”, and still wearing his prison-issue grey tracksuit top and bottoms.
The last sighting of Kebatu occurred two hours later, at 8pm on Friday, in the same area.
Police said that he had taken a train from Chelmsford to Stratford, London, arriving at 1.12pm on Friday and then had taken “a number of journeys” across London and had “access to funds”.
CCTV released by the Metropolitan Police showing Kebatu at a library in Dalston Square, Hackney, East London.
A video circulating online appears to show Kebatu walking along Chelmsford high street, with authorities saying he was later seen getting a train to London on Friday afternoon. ITV News has been unable to independently verify the footage.
It is understood that Kebatu, who had crossed the Channel in a small boat to enter the UK on June 29, left prison with a small amount of personal money, but was not given a discharge grant to cover subsistence costs.
Commander James Conway, of the Metropolitan Police, urged Kebatu to hand himself in to a police station, saying they wanted to locate him in a “safe and controlled way.”
Images shared on social media on Friday showed Kebatu at in Chelmsford. ITV News has been unable to independently verify the footage.
“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.”
A prison officer has been taken off duties to discharge prisoners while an investigation takes place.
According to government statistics released in July, the number of prisoners released in error more than doubled in the year to March 2025.
The report by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) said 262 prisoners were released in error from April 2024 to March 2025, up from 115 in the year to March 2024, meaning a 128% increase over the space of 12 months.
Arrest footage of Hadush Kebatu in July. He was jailed last month. Credit: PA
Justice Secretary David Lammy said on Friday that he was “livid on behalf of the public” about the mishap and urged anyone with information on his whereabouts to call 999. He added that he had launched an investigation into the error.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on Sunday in response to the release that “nobody who arrives by small boat should be free to walk our streets.”
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said all such arrivals should be detained from arrival until deportation.
Met Police Commander James Conway made a direct plea to Kebatu to hand himself in, while calling on anyone who has had contact with the Ethiopian national to come forward
Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat eight days before the incidents in July, was convicted of making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old girl before he tried to kiss her.
His trial also heard that a day later, he sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg, and telling her she was pretty.
The woman later called 999 after she spotted him being inappropriate to the same teenage girl who he sexually assaulted while she was wearing her school uniform.
Kebatu was found guilty of five offences after a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester magistrates’ court in September. The court heard at his sentencing hearing that it was his “firm wish” to be deported.
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