Police launch manhunt after migrant sex offender is mistakenly released from UK jail

A Police manhunt is underway to find the Epping hotel migrant sex attacker after he was accidentally released from jail.

Hadush Kebatu was meant to be sent to an immigration detention center to be deported but was mistakenly freed, The Sun can reveal.

A major operation is now under way to find him with cops scrambling to chase down the dangerous lag.

Justice Secretary David Lammy is understood to be “furious” and is working with police to find the criminal.

A senior justice source said: “He has been released in error – this is the mother of all f**k ups.

“It is down to human error, with the wrong paperwork on it or something.

“David Lammy is aware – and is furious.”

Furious Reform leader Nigel Farage said: “The Epping hotel migrant sex attacker has been accidentally freed rather than deported.

“He is now walking the streets of Essex.

“Britain is broken.”

Kebatu was found guilty of touching and trying to kiss the schoolgirl in Epping on July 7 and 8.

He had only been in prison for four weeks after being jailed on September 23.

His arrest led to a wave of demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel, where he was staying as an asylum seeker from Ethiopia.

Kebatu, 41, put his hand on the teen’s thigh, tried to kiss her, and told her he wanted to marry her while she was in her school uniform.

The Ethiopian migrant, who previously worked as a teacher, carried out the attacks just eight days after arriving in Britain on a small boat.

The judge at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court said it must have been a “disgusting and sickening” experience for the girl, who was wearing school uniform at the time.

“Every time I go out with my friends I am checking over my shoulder,” the victim said in a statement.

Sentencing Judge Christopher Williams told Kebatu, who appeared in the dock wearing a grey jumper, that he showed “no remorse at all”.

Responding to the accidental release, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Remember: they told you that local mums who protested outside the hotel where this sex attacker stayed were the problem.”

MP for Chelmsford Marie Goldman said: “I am closely following developments and am in contact with the police and the prison.

“The police must do everything they can to ensure that this man is returned to custody immediately so that he is deported at once.

“Once the manhunt is over, there must be a full, rapid public inquiry into how this happened.

“This is utterly unacceptable and has potentially put my constituents in danger.”

Recently it emerged Kebautu was being “protected” in a cushy prison where lags can learn to be barbers or baristas.

Kebautu was having contact with other inmates at the Category B jail – which previously held shamed reality star Stephen Bear – limited for his own protection.

And the Ethiopian, whose arrest sparked protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping and others nationally, was also listed as being an “escape risk” from HMP Chelmsford in Essex.

Kebatu, 41, had been placed on a “standard” regime at the jail which means he is allowed a Freeview TV, access to books and gym visits – and is given around £20 per week in the prison shop.

Lags fill in a “canteen sheets” and can order treats including cheese puffs, Oreo cookies and Kinder chocolate – plus toiletries, greetings cards, batteries, vapes and phone credit.

Courses on offer for inmates include hairdressing, art, information technology and cookery – while charity Combat 2 Coffee runs barista training at the jail.

Other former prisoners at Chelmsford include ex-footballer Tony Adams – jailed for drink-driving in 1990 – and 1960s gangster ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser.

The 1979 film version of classic comedy Porridge was mostly shot on location at HMP Chelmsford, while it was empty after a fire.

Kebatu was last month jailed for a year after touching and trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl on two consecutive days in July near the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

His victim was in school uniform and he targeted her eight days after arriving in the UK on a dinghy packed with migrants.

Kebatu spotted the schoolgirl and a pal eating pizza in Epping and invited them back to the hotel and told them he wanted them to have his babies.