The police hunt for a wrongly freed migrant sex attacker descended deeper into farce yesterday after it was revealed prison officers gave him directions to the nearest train station.
Hadush Kebatu, jailed for sexually assaulting a teenage girl, should have been transferred from HMP Chelmsford to an immigration removal centre on Friday ahead of his deportation.
But an astonishing ‘error’ led to the offender – whose offences sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, and around the country this year – being released, triggering a manhunt involving three police forces.
Now it has emerged that prison officers told the 38-year-old Ethiopian he had to make it to the removal centre on his own steam.
A delivery driver told Sky News: ‘I heard one of the officers saying, “This is how you get to the station, you go down here…” [he] directed him to the station and said he had to get on a train to get to this place… This conversation was at the front of the prison.’
In what caused further disbelief last night, Kebatu spent more than 90 minutes hanging around outside the prison because he simply did not know ‘where to go or what to do’.
The driver, who was delivering equipment to the prison, said: ‘[The officers] were basically sending him away, saying, “Go, you’ve been released, you go”.’
Kebatu was last seen boarding Friday’s 12.41pm train from Chelmsford to London Liverpool Street after apparently seeking help from a woman and persuading her to pay for his ticket.
A CCTV image issued by the Metropolitan Police (pictured) shows Hadush Kebatu in Dalston, London, on Saturday night
Video footage (above) appeared to capture Kebatu in Chelmsford town centre asking for directions from locals
The sex offender (pictured) was accidentally freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning by bungling staff after serving just a month of his 12-month sentence for preying on a schoolgirl
He got off at Stratford Station in east London after 30 minutes and then disappeared. Police believe he has also sought help from the public in London. The debacle has left Labour facing fresh questions about its handling of the migrant crisis.
It comes amid a backlash against efforts to tackle illegal migration after a man who was deported under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme with France reappeared on UK shores having crossed the Channel again in a small boat.
Tory MP for Epping Forest, Neil Hudson, called Kebatu’s release a ‘catastrophic mistake’ which had ‘deeply distressed, upset and angered’ the whole community, adding that ‘accountability must go right to the top’.
Even after being set free, Kebatu kept going ‘back and forth’ into the prison reception area seeking help and showing staff a wad of paperwork about his case, according to the driver.
‘I’m not sticking up for the guy but in my eyes he wanted to do the right thing and go to the right place,’ he said.
‘He knew he was getting deported but he didn’t know where to go or how he should get there. He kept scratching his head and saying, “Where do I go, where do I go?”‘
He added that the officers had no interest in helping him, saying, ‘You’re released, you’re released’.
Kebatu was jailed for a year last month after assaulting his 14-year-old victim. During his trial, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard that he acted ‘ignorantly and repulsively’.
The migrant became aroused as he put his hand on the girl’s thighs and stroked her hair despite knowing ‘full well she was only 14’. He said he wanted to have a baby with her and invited her back to The Bell Hotel, where he was living.
Kebatu then tried to kiss a woman who attempted to intervene, before putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty.
Met Police Commander James Conway urged Kebatu to give himself up, saying: ‘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.’
He said the asylum seeker had taken ‘a number of journeys’ across London since his release on Friday and had ‘access to funds’.
