Police caught him at 8.30am today (Sunday, October 26)
An asylum seeker sex offender mistakenly released from prison has been arrested in North London following a high-profile manhunt. Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl and was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
The migrant, who had been at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, when he assaulted the girl, took a train from Chelmsford to Stratford, in East London, the day he was released and was later spotted in Dalston carrying a white bag with pictures of avocados on it.
He was arrested in the Finsbury Park area at around 8.30am today (Sunday, October 26) according to the Metropolitan Police. The force, which led the manhunt, added he will be returned to the custody of the prison service.
Commander James Conway said: “This has been a diligent and fast-paced investigation led by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police, supported by Essex Police and the British Transport Police. Information from the public led officers to Finsbury Park and following a search, they located Mr Kebatu.
“He was detained by police, but will be returned to the custody of the prison service. I am extremely grateful to the public for their support following our appeal, which assisted in locating Mr Kebatu.”
It is understood Kebatu, who crossed the Channel in a small boat to enter the UK on June 29, left prison with an amount of personal money but was not given a discharge grant to cover subsistence costs.
A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return to HMP Chelmsford in a “very confused” state “four or five times”, only to be turned away by prison staff and directed to the railway station. A prison officer has been taken off duties to discharge prisoners while an investigation takes place.
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