We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.
A convicted sex offender, who was mistakenly released from prison before absconding to London, has been deported.
Hadush Kebatu, who was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday, has arrived in Ethiopia after being deported from the UK with no right to return, the Home Office has confirmed.
The 38-year-old was handed a 12-month jail sentence just weeks ago for sexually assaulting a 14 year old girl and a woman in Essex. The Ethiopian national was initially set to be deported but instead sparked a significant manhunt across the south east.
Kebatu had been residing at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, when he committed his offences.
The sex offender was later arrested on Sunday in the Finsbury Park area around 8.30am, according to Scotland Yard. He was photographed being escorted away by a group of police officers near a bus stop in the north London neighbourhood, clad in a black jacket and jeans.
Three plain-clothed officers guided him to a police van as he faced the ground with a hood over his head.
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.
– This is a breaking news story. Follow us on
Google News, Flipboard, Apple News, Twitter, Facebook or visit The Mirror homepage.
