Migrant sex offender given £500 after threat to disrupt deportation

A migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison was given a £500 payment after threatening to disrupt his deportation from the UK to Ethiopia, the BBC understands.

Hadush Kebatu was jailed after sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex, but was mistakenly set free by prison staff on Friday. He was brought back into custody following a two-day manhunt.

The Ethiopian national was put on a flight on Tuesday night and landed the following morning, the Home Office said.

It is understood the decision to give the payment was made by the removal team and was considered an alternative to a more expensive and lengthier process.

Kebatu was “forcibly deported” and accompanied by five escorts on the flight, sources said.

Paid removals are normal under the Facilitated Returns Scheme, under which foreign nationals who agree to leave the UK are given £1,500.

“Forcible” returns do not usually involve payments, but removal teams can decide to make a discretionary payment to ensure things go smoothly.

In this case, the concern was that it would cost much more to re-book the flights – running into several thousands of pounds – and it might have led to expensive legal action.

Sources said the payment made by the removal team, not ministers, avoided “a slower and more expensive process, which would have included detention, a new flight and potentially fighting subsequent legal claims”.

Kebatu arrived in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa early on Wednesday and was briefly held by officers at the airport, Ethiopian police told the BBC.

He was then released because there was “no legal basis for his continued detention”, Ethiopian Federal Police spokesman Jaylan Abde said.

Announcing his removal earlier on Wednesday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Last week’s blunder should never have happened – and I share the public’s anger that it did.”

“I have pulled every lever to deport Mr Kebatu and remove him off British soil. I am pleased to confirm this vile child sex offender has been deported. Our streets are safer because of it,” she added.

On Friday Kebatu was meant be taken from HMP Chelmsford to an immigration detention centre to be deported under an early removals scheme (ERS) for foreign national offenders.

Instead, he was released in what Justice Secretary David Lammy previously described as apparent “human error”.

By the time Essex Police were made aware of the situation shortly before 13:00, he had approached members of the public in the city centre for assistance and boarded a train to London.

He was arrested in north London on Sunday morning after a member of the public contacted the police to say they might have spotted him near Finsbury Park station.

Home Office Minister Alex Norris told BBC Breakfast the situation had “ended in the way it had to end”.

“We accept this was a blunder – we’re really angry about it as I know the public are.”

He said “immediate controls” had been put in place in prisons to avoid a repeat of the incident – including more “stringent” checks when offenders leave prisons for deportation – and that an independent inquiry would identify lessons learned.

The independent investigation will seek to establish how Kebatu was set free and whether staff had sufficient experience, training and technology.

The inquiry chair, former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, will also speak to Kebatu’s victims and make recommendations to prevent further mistaken releases, which have risen in recent years.

An urgent review has been ordered into the checks that take place when someone is released from prison. A prison officer has been suspended and no removals from HMP Chelmsford under the ERS will take place this week.

Epping Forest’s Conservative MP, Neil Hudson, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the community would be “very relieved” by Kebatu’s removal.

“No one wants to see our hometown the lead story on the news,” he said, adding that the local authority’s legal challenge to block migrants from lodging at The Bell Hotel – where Kebatu had been staying – was ongoing.

“The events over the weekend… have really brought things to the surface again,” he said. “This is incredibly frustrating and the government must get a grip.”

Kebatu arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on a small boat on 29 June, having travelled through Sudan, Libya, Italy and France.

His arrest in July sparked a wave of protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, which was being used to accommodate asylum seekers including Kebatu.

Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard Kebatu had tried to kiss a teenage girl in the town centre, making sexually explicit comments to her.

The following day, he encountered the same girl and tried to kiss her before sexually assaulting her and another woman.

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

A deportation order must be made when a foreign national is sentenced to 12 months or more in custody, under the UK Borders Act 2007.

During Kebatu’s trial, the court heard it was his “firm wish” to be deported.