A convicted child sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison after arriving in the UK on a small boat was given £500 of public money to facilitate his deportation to Ethiopia. Hadush Kebatu was flown back to his home country on Tuesday night with the discretionary payment after raising the possibility of challenging his removal shortly before he was due to be placed on a plane.
Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman. He was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre, triggering a two-day search. Speaking from Ethiopia, Kebatu claimed he tried to hand himself in to police but was ignored, a claim the Metropolitan Police said was not supported by evidence.
The payment was approved by officials, not ministers, as an operational decision to avoid a slower and more expensive process, including detention and potential legal claims. Downing Street said Kebatu had attempted to apply for a facilitated return scheme but was denied, though officials decided to make the payment to ensure his smooth removal given the threat of disrupting the flight.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said she shared the public’s anger over his release and had “pulled every lever” to remove him. The Conservatives described the payment as an “absolute disgrace”, with a spokesperson for Kemi Badenoch calling for leaving the European Convention on Human Rights to deport all foreign criminals as soon as possible.
