Hadush Kebatu’s victim, 14, ’caused so much stress and anxiety’ over his release

The mistaken release of a sex offender from prison caused his teenage victim “so much stress and anxiety”, her father has said as he condemned the error as “unbelievably irresponsible”.

Hadush Kebatu was jailed for a year in September for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, who has anonymity, and was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.

The migrant, who had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, when he assaulted the girl, travelled from Chelmsford to London and was arrested on Sunday morning in Finsbury Park.

In a statement read out by Shane Yerrell, Independent councillor for Epping Forest District Council (EFDC), the victim’s father said his traumatised daughter had been slowly regaining her confidence after the events.

“Friday’s news has caused her so much stress and anxiety,” he said.

“She feared seeing him again in the high road and him recognising her. I’m really worried for my daughter’s mental health and wellbeing because of this assault.

“This man is a real danger to young women and children and for him to be wrongly released and walking the streets freely just four months after carrying out two sexual assaults, only five weeks after being sentenced, all because of a system failure on Friday is unbelievably irresponsible.”

He said the entire family feel “massively let down and infuriated” by the prison, police, justice system and Government.

“They have all failed, not just us as a family, but they have failed everyone in the country,” the father said.

“I had to find out from a reporter that my daughter’s attacker was accidentally released in the day, then be sent images and videos of him walking around throughout the day before the police even alerted her mother.

“Then later that day when I attended HMP Chelmsford to seek some answers I was greeted with hostility and complete disregard for anything I said or asked, totally disrespecting me and my family.”

The father, who expressed hopes that Kebatu will be deported “immediately”, also said he feared the sex offender would hurt someone else.

“If anything had happened to another child or female then that would have been on the heads of HMP Chelmsford, as well as the police and the justice system and our Labour Government,” he said.

The Ministry of Justice declined to comment further, with David Lammy telling broadcasters on Friday afternoon that he recognises it will have been an “anxious time” for Kebatu’s victims and their families, and for “many” women, adding: “I’m glad that we have brought that to an end.”

The Justice Secretary said he will announce an independent inquiry into the incident in Parliament on Monday.

The Bell Hotel, where Kebatu was living before his conviction, became the focal point of demonstrations and counter-protests over the summer following his criminal charges, which eventually led to demonstrations outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.

A group of around 60 protesters holding union and St George’s flags gathered outside the Essex hotel on Sunday evening.

The hotel is at the centre of an ongoing High Court battle between EFDC and Somani Hotels, which owns the Bell.

The council is currently waiting to find out whether it has been successful in its bid for a High Court injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed there.

EFDC launched the legal action claiming that accommodating asylum seekers there breaches planning rules, and the company opposes the claim.

The Home Office has intervened in the case, telling the court the council’s bid is “misconceived”.

The Bell has been used to house single adult males since April, with barristers for the Home Office telling the court that it currently houses around 95 people.

It first housed asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021 and accommodated single adult males from October 2022 to April 2024, with the council taking no enforcement action.

EFDC was granted a temporary injunction in mid-August but this was overturned at the Court of Appeal later that month.