Manhunt for Ethiopian asylum seeker sex offender accidentally released

🤷‍♀️ overly dramatic.

StripeyGran

growstuff

StripeyGran

Just to be crystal clear, I have no " sympathies" for a criminal who hurt a child and a woman.

It's not a question of having sympathies. It's about justice and upholding it. He was charged, found guilty and sentenced and served his punishment (same as anybody else who had done the same and received the same sentence).

It wasn't his fault that the authorities seemingly didn't want to have anything more to do with him.

I felt the need to write that, incase I was basically attacked on this site.

Thanks.

Probably necessary.

growstuff

StripeyGran

Just to be crystal clear, I have no " sympathies" for a criminal who hurt a child and a woman.

It's not a question of having sympathies. It's about justice and upholding it. He was charged, found guilty and sentenced and served his punishment (same as anybody else who had done the same and received the same sentence).

It wasn't his fault that the authorities seemingly didn't want to have anything more to do with him.

It wasn't his fault that the authorities seemingly didn't want to have anything more to do with him.

I don't think it was that at all growstuff.

At first it would seem as if someone had perhaps received a backhander from someone to allow his release but more likely it was sheer incompetence because he was not due to be released at all.

It is possible to want justice to be done and to have zero sympathy for him. I do sometimes think women as a group are expected to hold sympathy for those who would abuse them. I am not sure if that happens to other groups.

Galaxy

It is possible to want justice to be done and to have zero sympathy for him. I do sometimes think women as a group are expected to hold sympathy for those who would abuse them. I am not sure if that happens to other groups.

Exactly! I don't have any sympathy for him but I do want justice. He wasn't given a death sentence, but there are some nut jobs around who think he deserved one - it only takes one.

Allira I'm not 100% sure about whether he was due to be released. My understanding is that he was due to be released from the prison system because (including his time on remand) he had already served whatever the minimum time of his sentence was.

He should have been transferred immediately to a detention centre for deportation, but for some reason, he was released to do as he pleased.

A complete cock up.

It was Allira, and I hope the result is better than 'lessons have been learned'.
As Fried said, something like, he tried to give himself up, but they wouldn't take him back.
I don't think it was planned. He made no attempt to hide.

growstuff

Allira I'm not 100% sure about whether he was due to be released. My understanding is that he was due to be released from the prison system because (including his time on remand) he had already served whatever the minimum time of his sentence was.

He should have been transferred immediately to a detention centre for deportation, but for some reason, he was released to do as he pleased.

Had anyone else read the summary of the court case and the subsequent sentencing remarks?

I’m not going to go into detail. It’s here to be read if you want to:

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Rex-v-Hadush-Kebatu.pdf

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/R-v-Hadush-Kebatu-1.pdf

Extracts

75. The Pre-Sentence Report makes clear that you have been suffering with your mental health since being in custody. You have attempted on at least one occasion to take your own life. A custodial sentence will no doubt add to your poor emotional well-being.

79. This is a sentence that will be served immediately. I will not suspend the sentence. Accordingly, you will now start to serve that 12 month sentence.

80. The time that you have spent in custody will be credited towards this sentence. You will also be subject to an early release regime which at present requires you to serve at least 40% of the sentence before being eligible for release. The earliest date of your release will be calculated and you will be notified of this.

40% of 365 days is 146 days. He was sentended on 24 September having been in custody since 8 July so 78 days spent in custody. His earliest release would have been 68 days from 24 September which would have been the end of December.

I can only conjecture, that, having shown a willingness to be deported, the Home Office took the view that he should go sooner rather than later, a) to free up prison space and b) if possible to minimise the risk of self harm or harm from other inmates.

Is it not this coming into action?
www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-criminals-to-face-immediate-deportation

Bye bye bad boy anyway. Good riddance.

Growstuff
"That (your last sentence) is what I am hoping too. He doesn't deserve to be murdered for what he did, but I fear there are vigilantes around who might take the law into their own hands".
I agree with the above, that was my first thought. The behaviour of the racist thugs outside hotels, shows that could happen.

Going back a bit, Petra I know yiung offenders need support, worked with many. My concern was sacrificing an excellent resource because the council couldn’t fund both

Glad he has been arrested and will be deported. Another sex offender off our streets.

rafichagran

Growstuff
"That (your last sentence) is what I am hoping too. He doesn't deserve to be murdered for what he did, but I fear there are vigilantes around who might take the law into their own hands".
I agree with the above, that was my first thought. The behaviour of the racist thugs outside hotels, shows that could happen.

Which is why, I think the police, while asking for public vigilance on Saturday, were rather circumspect in what information they released about where they had been tracking him.

In the end, he was found about 7 miles away from where he got off the train in Stratford, East London. He wasn’t exactly running away or hiding. A member of the public saw him at a bus stop in Finsbury Park and called the police.

Police said:

Although Kebatu had personal cash on him when he left prison, he didn’t have a phone or bank cards, which removes a lot of our most obvious tech-based options. It was a case of working painstakingly through CCTV from the railway network initially, establishing where he had eventually left a station and then going from camera to camera trying to trace his steps. The reality with that is you’re always many hours behind which is why turning to the public, once we’d narrowed down a location, was important.We’ve seen quite a lot of commentary online that imagines a much more sophisticated pan-London camera/tracking type set up which just isn’t realistic.

I doubt he even knew the police were looking for him.

I am glad he has been found, I think he deserved prison for what he done, but I would not want him at the mercy of vicious, ignorant, racist, thugs.

he was found about 7 miles away from where he got off the train in Stratford, East London.

7 miles across London brings you into contact with many many cctv cameras, but I can understand how working from several hours behind must be frustrating, because in the meantime the target will have moved on elsewhere.
It sounds to me as though his first exit off the platform at Stratford was missed, and anyone who knows that station with its many train and tube lines converging will understand the complexity of the search.
There are some guessing why he headed to Finsbury Park, who knows? He's caught that's the main thing.

Babs03

This is a first, have never heard of a convicted criminal being accidentally released.
And if he had his possessions in a clear plastic bag that means he was checked out of the prison and given his stuff back as he left. Release procedure was followed, so how did this happen??
Heads need to roll for this.

It actually happens quite often.

PaynesGrey Thanks for working that out. I thought he'd been in custody longer than that, so I was wrong about his release date. I knew he was supposed to be deported immediately, so goodness knows what's going in with the prison communications systems.

escaped

Mysterious definitely.

How many people have to "set free" or sign a prisoners out? I don't know, but surely more than just one person processes them?

Not really mysterious, it happens often. 226 times from March 2024 to March 2025!

Even Sky News ( unusual for them) aren’t laying the blame solely at the current government but highlighting the problems in the prison service which haven’t been resolved by previous governments, even criticising the LibDems for being involved in austerity cuts years ago.

A retired governor describes the discharge process as needing experienced staff throughout. In eight years at their last huge prison , not one accidental discharge

I recall it so clearly as the first really big shock as to the state that the Conservatives had left the country's prisons and the prison service in.

Abolutely disgusting, disgraceful, and shameful.

As it is turning it round and attempting to pin the blame on the current government

What exactly do posters expect them to have done since the election in 2024?

Oh yes, spent all that money available to put things right overnight 🙄

The Tories cut prison budgets and handed over much of it to private contractors aiming to make a profit so experienced staff were let go and young cheap staff given about 4 days training then chucked into the deep end. No wonder the prison system is on such a dire state.

The Conservative spokesperson said as with opening up nightingale hospitals* during the pandemic why not find other places to put prisoners. How about putting them into the hotels vacated by migrants? That would really go down well.
*did they ever get used, one of the problems being lack of suitable nursing staff ?