Highlights:
- Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu deported after being mistakenly released from prison.
- Kebatu had served one month of a one-year sentence for sexual assault.
- Mahmood called the error “a blunder that should never have happened.”
- Government plans to move asylum seekers from hotels to former military sites by 2029.
The UK government has deported an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison in what officials described as a serious error.
“Hadush Kebatu has arrived back in Ethiopia after being deported from the UK, with no right to return,” the Home Office said on Wednesday.
Kebatu, 38, was re-arrested on Sunday after a nearly 48-hour police search. He had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman. He was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.
His case, heard earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, had led to protests targeting hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers, as well as counter-protests.
“Last week’s blunder should never have happened — and I share the public’s anger that it did,” said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
Justice minister David Lammy on Monday announced an independent investigation into the incident, saying mistaken releases had increased in recent years.
Kebatu was first arrested in July while living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which was being used to house asylum seekers. The site has faced protests and a legal challenge from the local council opposing its use for that purpose.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said the government would begin using former military sites to house asylum seekers instead of hotels to “ease the pressure on communities.”
Starmer said he wanted asylum seeker hotels closed “as quickly as possible” and confirmed the Labour government’s goal to end their use by 2029.
The Cameron Barracks in northeastern Scotland and the Crowborough army camp in southeast England have been identified to accommodate about 900 asylum seekers in total by the end of the year.
The change in policy follows a parliamentary report which found that the Home Office, under successive governments, had “squandered billions” on a flawed asylum housing system.
The use of former military sites to house asylum seekers has previously been controversial. The former Conservative government faced legal action after courts ruled that an army camp used for this purpose failed to meet minimum standards.
(With inputs from agencies)
