Epping migrant sex offender will be deported 'this week', says Justice Secretary Lammy

A migrant who was mistakenly released from prison and then re-arrested will be deported "this week", David Lammy has said.

Hadush Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area of north London at 08:30 GMT on Sunday, bringing an end to a 48-hour manhunt that began after he was let go in error from HMP Chelmsford.

Kebatu, who was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping while living in a hotel, was due to be deported when he was mistakenly set free by prison staff.

Justice Secretary Lammy said he would outline the terms of reference for a full independent inquiry into the release in Parliament on Monday.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said an investigation was already under way, adding: "We must make sure this doesn't happen again."

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

The Met Police said Kebatu was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and would be taken to a London prison.

One eyewitness said he was walking his dog in Finsbury Park when he spotted Kebatu being led away by a number of officers.

Eyewitness Jack Neill-Hall, 40, told the PA news agency: "I knew that he'd last been seen in the Hackney area and I thought 'oh, that looks awfully like that guy, he's not wearing the same clothes but it looks like him'."

"He wasn't struggling, he was walking quite calmly, a bit dejectedly, he was staring down, he had his hood up, but it was a calm situation," he added.

"It was a leisurely stroll out of the park with him with his hands cuffed but he wasn't trying to get away."

The Met said a member of the public tipped off police that they had spotted a man they believed could be Kebatu at a bus stop near Finsbury Park station at 08:03 on Sunday morning.

Officers were sent to the area and found him 16 minutes later.

Kebatu was seen being led away in handcuffs by police wearing different clothes to the prison-issue grey tracksuit he had last been spotted in on Friday evening.

Essex Police were first made aware that Kebatu had been released in error on Friday at 12:57 on Friday but Kebatu had already boarded a train to east London 16 minutes earlier.

Kebatu was also was filmed in Chelmsford city centre speaking to members of the public shortly after he was released, and police confirmed he approached several people seeking assistance.

The Met Police also established that Kebatu made a number of train journeys across the capital.

Officers issued CCTV images of Kebatu at a library in the Dalston area on Friday evening. He was still wearing a prison-issue grey tracksuit and carrying a white bag with pictures of avocados on it.

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.

Kebatu gave his age as 38 during a court appearance, but a judge said he had been seen information indicating he was 41.

He denied the charges against him but was found guilty of five offences last month and sentenced to 12 months in custody, including the time he had already time in jail awaiting his trial. In total, he spent 108 days in prison.

Kebatu 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.

Speaking from Wood Green police station in north London, Lammy said Kebatu's victims had been contacted by police liaison officers over the last 48 hours.

During his trial, the court heard it was Kebatu's "firm wish" to be deported. Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and has received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.

HM Prison Service has instructed governors in England and Wales to implement additional checks before inmates are released by Monday.

A prison officer has been suspended pending investigation but a senior prison staffer told BBC News the release was "down to a series of mistakes probably because staff are overworked and in short supply".

They continued: "It's not just one prison office who's to blame. That would be unfair."

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.

Asked why figures for wrongful releases were rising, Lammy, who is also deputy prime minister, said the Labour government "inherited a system that was collapsing [from the Conservatives]".

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC the arrest was a "huge relief" and said Kebatu will "now be deported".

He continued: "The justice secretary has ordered an investigation into how on earth it was that a dangerous man who was due for deportation was instead released onto our streets.

"That work is under way, we will be open and transparent with the public about what went wrong and what we're going to do about it."

He had earlier said the Prison Service was under enormous pressure "but even against that backdrop it doesn't explain or excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business being there".

Former Conservative Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said an inquiry was necessary in order "to learn lessons", and suggested the incident was symptomatic of wider problems with the prison system.

He told BBC Breakfast: "The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent by the Department for Work and Pensions in two weeks.

"My constant plea is to try to ensure the prison service gets the resources it requires to ensure we are recruiting and retaining people with skills and experience to make sure these problems don't happen."

The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, said Kebatu "must now be deported" and also pushed for a national inquiry.

Earlier, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the incident showed that the UK's "once-trusted institutions", including the police and prisons, were "disintegrating before our eyes".