The prime minister has said the migrant who was mistakenly released from prison and found again will be deported following an error that Reform UK likened to a “Monty Python sketch”.
Sir Keir Starmer said police officers had worked “quickly and diligently to bring him back into custody” and that the government had “ordered an investigation to establish what went wrong”.
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Hadush Kebatu, who was found guilty in September of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, was freed in error from HMP Chelmsford in Essex on Friday instead of being handed over to immigration officials for deportation.
His accidental release sparked widespread alarm and a manhunt that resulted in him being found and arrested by the Metropolitan Police in the Finsbury Park area of London at around 8.30am on Sunday.
The incident has sparked questions over how the man – whose crimes sparked protests in Epping over the use of asylum hotels – was able to be freed.
Opposition parties have said the government has “serious questions” to answer over the incident.
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Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, said that while he was “relieved” Kebatu had been re-arrested, the case was a sign of Britain’s “descent into a Monty Python sketch”.
He referred to a Sky News report detailing how the wanted migrant spoke to a delivery driver at Chelmsford prison and appeared “confused” at why he had been released.
“This is a man who the eyewitnesses said was actively trying to go back into prison after being accidentally let go,” Mr Yusuf said.
He said the case was “absolutely shocking” and questioned how victims of sexual assault could have confidence in the government.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said Kebatu should “never have been released in the first place” and called on the home secretary and justice secretary to apologise.
Pressed on the state of the prison system during the Conservatives’ 14 years in power, Mr Philp said: “They’ve been in charge now for almost a year and a half, so I think they do have to take responsibility for the system.
“This failing with the release of this man by accident happened under the Labour government and, as I say, I think the justice secretary and home secretary should apologise.”
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Their concerns were echoed by Marie Goldman, the Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, who told Sky News the incident was a sign of “systemic failure”.
She said she had spoken to the prison service and had been told to expect the initial findings into what went wrong “pretty quickly”.
“We had figures from His Majesty’s Prison Probation Service saying that 262 prisoners were released in error in the year leading to March of this year,” she said.
“That shows that it’s a systemic failure. This is happening all over the country.”
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Commander James Conway praised the “diligent and fast paced investigation” that led to Kebatu’s arrest and revealed it was information from the public that led officers to Finsbury Park, where he was discovered.
Speaking on Sky News before Kebatu was found, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Trevor Phillips that Justice Secretary David Lammy had commissioned an investigation into what had gone wrong.
“We know that one prison officer has been suspended already, but there does need to be accountability for such an egregious failure,” he added.
