Justice Secretary David Lammy has said an exclusive Sky News interview will be used as part of an independent inquiry into how migrant Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released from prison.
Kebatu, who was found guilty in September of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex, was arrested on Sunday morning in London’s Finsbury Park after spending more than 70 hours at large.
While the manhunt was ongoing, Sky’s national correspondent Tom Parmenter sat down with a delivery driver who spoke to Kebatu at HMP Chelmsford, describing him as being “confused” as he was being guided to the railway station by prison staff.
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Asked if he saw the interview, which also revealed the migrant returned to the prison reception four or five times before leaving the area on a train, Mr Lammy said on Sunday: “I saw the Sky reporting from yesterday and of course, that will be subject to the independent inquiry that must now take place.”
He made the comments during a visit to Wood Green Police Station in north London, where he said he wanted to thank officers for apprehending Kebatu.
He called his accidental release from prison on Friday “totally unacceptable” and said Kebatu will be deported back to Ethiopia this coming week.
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.
Mr Lammy said he would make a statement in parliament on Monday and a “full investigation into how this happened” will take place.
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Police will now question Kebatu “to get to the bottom of what’s happened” and to learn what his movements were between his accidental release from prison on Friday and his arrest.
Earlier on Sunday, 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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Opposition parties have said that the government has “serious questions” to answer over the incident.
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.
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He said the case was “absolutely shocking” and questioned how victims of sexual assault could have confidence in the government.
It is understood Kebatu, who crossed the Channel in a small boat to enter the UK on 29 June, left prison with an amount of personal money but was not given a discharge grant to cover subsistence costs.
He was convicted of two counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence on 4 September.
