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A former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error has been located and is back in custody, police said.
The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
He was arrested in the Finsbury Park area of north London at around 8.30am on Sunday, Scotland Yard said.
The Metropolitan police commander James Conway, who oversaw the operation to find Kebatu, 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.”
Kebatu, who was released wearing a prison-issue grey tracksuit and holding a plastic bag containing his possessions, made several train journeys across London after being freed on Friday, according to the Met.
Conway had on Saturday urged anyone “who sees him, knows where he is or has any information” to call 999 immediately, adding that police believed Kebatu “has access to funds, and critically, in Chelmsford and London, sought assistance from members of the public, and has spoken to station staff”.
The 41-year-old was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported but was released from HMP Chelmsford in Essex by mistake, it has emerged.
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.
The driver, named only as Sim, told Sky News that he saw Kebatu come out of the prison saying: “Where am I going? What am I doing?” and hanging around for about one-and-a-half hours as he tried to find out where he should be going.
He said Kebatu knew he should be deported but the prison staff were “basically sending him away” and saying to him: “Go, you’ve been released, you go.”
The driver said: “He kept scratching his head and saying: ‘Where do I go, where do I go?’ The fourth or fifth time [he went into the reception] he was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed. I’m not sticking up for the guy, but in my eyes, he was trying to do the right thing.
“He knew he was getting deported, but he didn’t know where he was going or how he should get there.”
Kebatu appeared to have been spotted later in Chelmsford town centre asking for assistance before getting on a train to London.
Essex police on Saturday confirmed that Kebatu was seen catching a train at Chelmsford railway station at 12.41pm on Friday. Met police confirmed he was seen getting off the train in Stratford in east London at about 1.10pm on Friday.
As a result, the Met was handed responsibility for the investigation on Saturday morning, the force said.
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A statement from Essex police on Saturday morning said that officers had “worked through the night” to track Kebatu’s movements, including “scouring hours of CCTV footage”.
Prison Service sources said the release from HMP Chelmsford was caused by human error. It is understood the prison officer who authorised the release has been removed from duties while an urgent investigation takes place.
According to the Telegraph, Kebatu was wrongly categorised as a prisoner due to be released on licence and handed a £76 discharge grant.
One prison source described the incident as a “disaster waiting to happen” because of the high volume of releases being processed by inexperienced staff, and dozens of prisoners serving different tariffs being released at the same time.
Aaron Stowe, the president of the Criminal Justice Workers Union (CJWU), called Kebatu’s mistaken release “a profound failure of duty”.
He said: “The release of Hadush Kebatu is a betrayal of the victims, the community, and the principles of justice. We demand a full investigation and immediate reforms to ensure this never happens again.”
Mike Rolfe, the CJWU’s general secretary, added: “The justice system is stretched to breaking point, the public’s confidence is collapsing, and those tasked with enforcing the law are left to pick up the pieces of political cowardice.”
The father of Kebatu’s teenage victim told Sky News: “The justice system has let us down.”
Kebatu was found guilty of five offences last month after attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl twice, before sexually assaulting her, and sexually assaulting a woman and trying to kiss her, too.
He committed the offences just days after arriving in the UK on a small boat and taking up residence at the Bell hotel in Epping. His case triggered protests outside the hotel, which far-right activists sought to exploit, leading to assaults on police officers and 32 arrests.
At his trial, the district judge Christopher Williams said Kebatu posed a “significant risk of reoffending”, was “manipulative” and had acted “ignorantly and repulsively” towards the woman he had assaulted. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and had served just 31 days when he was released.
