Prison officers helped missing Epping sex offender find his way to the station

A manhunt continued last night for Hadush Kebatu, 41, who was staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, when he committed a string of sex offences including attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl, prompting protests that erupted into disorder this summer.

Kebatu was sentenced to a year in prison last month and had been due to be deported but was instead released with his belongings and given a payment of £76, the standard discharge grant for initial living expenses.

The Ministry of Justice blamed “human error” and said a prison officer had been suspended pending a full investigation, while probation officers warned that the government’s early release scheme had put “massive pressure in terms of the traffic going in and out of the prison gates”.

A delivery driver who was present when Kebatu was released told Sky News that he had re-entered the prison four or five times before staff directed him to the train station.

“It wasn’t a case of: he’s released and he’s disappeared and run off,” said the driver, who gave his name only as Sim. “He was standing around the prison, trying to work out where he needed to go, for maybe an hour and a half – maybe a little bit longer – before I overheard one of the officers saying: ‘Right, this is how you get to the station.’”

Sim added that Kebatu had “walked into the reception of the actual prison. He was saying: ‘Where do I go, what do I do?’ and he was presenting the paperwork that he had.

“I’m not sticking up for the guy at all… [but] in my eyes, he wanted to do the right thing and go to the right place. He knew he was getting deported but he didn’t know where he was going or how he was going to get there.”

Kebatu was filmed in a grey prison-issue tracksuit asking directions from members of the public. He had a large, clear plastic bag in his hand that contained a copy of War Cry, a Salvation Army magazine commonly given out in prisons.

Scotland Yard took over the investigation yesterday morning after Essex police and the British Transport Police established that Kebatu had travelled to London by train.

Far-right influencers seized on his disappearance. Ant Middleton, a former reality television star and ex-Royal Marine, posted on social media that he had “intel from a trusted and reliable source on the ground in Chelmsford” that Kebatu had travelled to London.

The loss of such a high-profile prisoner set for deportation on such serious offences has created a nightmare scenario for the government, particularly as it continues its early release scheme in a bid to reduce the pressure on an overburdened prison system.

Under pressure from the Tories and Reform, David Lammy, the justice secretary, called the incident “appalling”, and prime minister Keir Starmer said the blunder was “totally unacceptable”.

But these sorts of errors are increasingly common. 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.

Lammy, who was said to be “livid”, announced an independent investigation and the MoJ is now seeking a suitable candidate to lead it. In the interim, the prisons service has announced that duty governors will carry out additional checks on releases.

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of Napo, the probation officers’ union said: “There’s massive, massive ­pressure in terms of the amount of traffic going in and out of the prison gates. I’m not surprised that mistakes like this happen, because of the sheer overload.

“In terms of the rules around the early release scheme, our members tell me that they don’t think they’re tight enough. I don’t know what has gone wrong.”

The Met Police said its officers had taken over the manhunt shortly after 11.30am yesterday and that Kebatu had taken a train to Stratford at 12.41pm on Friday. They said they had “a high degree of confidence” that he remained in the London area and they were examining CCTV.

Commander James Conway said: “Finding Hadush Kebatu is a top priority. The manhunt is being led by an experienced senior investigating officer. He has teams at his disposal from the Specialist Crime Command with expertise in tracking down wanted people, as well as other resources from across the Met.

“Anyone who sees Kebatu, or has information about his whereabouts, should call 999 immediately.”

Screengrab taken from body-worn video issued by the Crown Prosecution Service. Photograph by Henry Nicholls/Getty