An independent investigation has been launched after a migrant sex offender was mistakenly released from prison in what appears be “human error”, Justice Secretary David Lammy has said.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Lammy said the inquiry will seek to “fully establish the facts” of the release of Hadush Kebatu and whether the staff involved had “sufficient experience, training and technology”.
Kebatu, who was set to be deported, was freed in error from HMP Chelmsford on Friday, prompting a 48-hour manhunt that ended with him being re-arrested in north London on Sunday.
Responding to Lammy’s statement, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick described the release of Kebatu as a “national embarrassment.”
Lammy said Kebatu would be deported back to Ethiopia “as quickly as possible”.
Earlier on Monday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer suggested the deportation would happen within a few days.
Kebatu was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in July in Epping, Essex, where he had been living in an asylum hotel since arriving in the UK on a small boat.
His arrest triggered a series of protests in the area, which spread to hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.
Kebatu was due to be taken to an immigration detention centre to be deported under an early removals scheme (ERS) for foreign national offenders but was instead released in “what appears to have been in human error”, Lammy told MPs.
“I’ve been clear from the outset that a mistake of this nature is unacceptable,” he told MPs.
“We must get to the bottom of what happened and take immediate action to try and prevent similar releases in error to protect the public from harm.”
Lammy said the independent investigation will be chaired by former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens.
Dame Lynne will also talk to the victims of Kebatu to “understand the effect this incident had on them,” Lammy said.
“Her report will highlight points of failure and make recommendations to help prevent further releases in error, which have been rising year-on-year since 2021 – going from nine per month on average in 2023 to 17 per month in the period spanning January to June 2024,” he added.
“And I’m clear that a single release in error is one too many, which is why we have launched this independent investigation.”
A prison officer has been suspended while the probe takes place.
The government has ordered prison governors to carry out new procedures to avoid a repeat of Kebatu’s mistaken release.
Lammy said he had ordered an “urgent review” into the checks that take place when someone is released from prison. New safeguards have been added that amount to the “strongest release checks that have ever been in place,” he told MPs.
Foreign criminals facing deportation will only be able to be released from prison when a duty governor is physically present, Lammy, who is also the deputy prime minister, said.
The Prison Governors’ Association said the additional checks were “undoubtedly” the result of the need to do something after an apparent failure of procedures, but whether they will address the issues “we will not know until the issues have been identified”.
No removals from HMP Chelmsford under the ERS will take place this week.
The number of prisoners who have been released mistakenly has risen sharply, with 262 let out in error between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 over the same period a year earlier.
Lammy suggested the mistaken release of Kebatu was a “symptom” of the prison system Labour inherited from the previous Conservative government.
There had been a 30% cut in prison staffing, and more than half of frontline prison officers now have less than five years’ experience, Lammy said.
“It’s little wonder when the system has been brought to its knees that errors like this happen,” he added.
In response, Jenrick said the mistaken release was “a national embarrassment and today the justice secretary feigns anger at what happened.”
He called on Lammy to give his “cast iron assurance” that Kebatu will be deported from the country by the end of the week.
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