london
—
British police on Friday arrested an asylum seeker who was mistakenly released from prison while serving a 12-month sentence for sexual assault after a “quick and complex” investigation.
Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed in September for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl while she was staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, England, a hotel outside London used by the government to help house asylum seekers.
“Hadush Kebatou, who was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning, has been arrested,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Sunday.
Police said the man was arrested by officers in London’s Finsbury Park area around 8:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET).
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Sunday that Kebatu would be deported from the UK following his arrest, vowing to “never let anything like this happen again”.
Kebatu’s case sparked a wave of anti-immigration demonstrations across the United States in August, with some protesters outside the Bell Hotel, incited by far-right groups, turning violent.
On Friday, Essex Police said they received a call at 12:57pm local time (7:57am ET) from a British prison about an “error” surrounding the release of a person.
Police immediately began searching for Kebatu, and British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced an “urgent investigation” into the mistaken release.
