An urgent police search for a man whose case sparked anti-migrant protests was prompted by the Friday release of an asylum-seeker who had been sentenced to 12 months in a British prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Before being deported, Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, who sparked a wave of irate anti-immigrant protests throughout the UK in the summer, was inadvertently released from the Chelmsford prison. In response to the 38-year-old sex offender’s “totally unacceptable” release, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his “appalled” sentiment.
“My government is assisting the police in their urgent efforts to find him,” Starmer stated. “For his crimes, this man needs to be apprehended and deported.”
Although the specifics of Kebatu’s eventual release were still unclear, Essex Police, located northeast of London, reported that they were notified just before 1 p.m. of “an error this morning surrounding the release of an individual.” Officers were reportedly “working to urgently locate and detain him” after he was spotted boarding a train in Chelmsford. A prison guard has been relieved of their duties while the Prison Service conducts an investigation.
Kebatu’s mistaken release is “a profound failure of duty” and a “betrayal of the victims, the community, and the principles of justice,” according to Aaron Stow, president of the Criminal Justice Workers’ Union, which advocates for prison guards.
Last month, Kebatu was convicted of five charges, including harassment, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and sexual assault.
Thousands of people demonstrated outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, northeast of London, where Kebatu and other recently arrived migrants were staying, following his arrest and prosecution. In other British cities and towns, there were numerous protests against other hotels that housed migrants, some of which were attended by far-right activists and descended into chaos.
According to Kebatu’s lawyer, he desired to be deported following his incarceration. Unauthorized migration, particularly the tens of thousands of migrants who cross the English Channel in overcrowded boats to get to the UK, and the Labour government’s practice of housing migrants in hotels while they await an asylum status decision have long been sources of tension.
According to critics, the hotels turn into community hotspots and make migrants feel singled out by locals, while also costing taxpayers millions of pounds.
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