London: Search underway for Asylum Seeker wrongfully released from prison
British police are actively searching in the London area for Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who was mistakenly released from prison on Friday. The 27-year-old had been sentenced in September to one year in jail for sexual assaults against a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, northeast of London.
According to The Sun, Kebatu was supposed to be transferred from Chelmsford Prison in Essex to an immigration detention center for deportation, but authorities accidentally set him free.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the incident as “completely unacceptable,” adding that an investigation is underway. “This man must be arrested and deported for his crimes,” he wrote on X.
The case has sparked a wave of criticism against the Labour government. Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch accused the administration of “letting the system collapse.” A victim’s father told Sky News that “the justice system has failed us.”
Official data show that 262 prisoners were wrongfully released in England and Wales between March 2024 and March 2025 — a 128% increase from the previous year.
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