Migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was given a 12-month sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum seeker hotel in Epping. However, he was mistakenly released by HMP Chelmsford.
This sparked public outrage, but this is far from an isolated incident. Mistakes on release dates happen quite usually as reported by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
After inspection of just one prison (HMP Pentonville) in July 2025, he reported that significant backlogs in sentence calculations meant some prisoners were being released early in error and, shockingly, many more were held after they should have been released.
HMPPS (Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service) reports that 262 prisoners were released in error between April 2024 – March 2025, as compared to 115 prisoners in the previous year. While the figures for unlawfully detained prisoners are unknown, it can be assumed that there are around the same number. The compensation figures for these unlawfully detained persons are not yet known, but these will be substantial.
These mistakes were predictable as prisons are critically understaffed and overworked and where new and inexperienced officers are being given large caseloads to manage. Moreover, there are also too many release provisions rolled out by numerous Governments which requires sometimes complex sentence calculations by prison staff.
Currently offenders are released automatically at the following points in their sentences (40%, 50%, 66%) and others are eligible to be released after ½ or ⅔ of their sentences. This gets even more complicated for prisoners serving concurrent/consecutive sentences under different release provisions or have been recalled to prison and/or received a further sentence whilst on licence.
This complexity increased with the recent introduction of the Fixed Term recall of offenders serving less than 48 months. There are many exclusions that could lead to mistakenly releasing the wrong prisoner and unlawfully detaining another. Moreover, when the new sentencing bill is enacted next year, there will be room for even more mistakes for early releases under the earned progression scheme.
Mistakenly releasing a high risk sexual or violent offender and putting public safety at risk is very dangerous, but alternatively unlawfully detaining a person (likely vulnerable) in a violent, unsafe and overcrowded prison would amount to torture. This would inevitably lead to violence against staff/prisoners, self-harm and in some cases suicides which have been on the rise.
The case of Kebatu is not just a mistake of one prison officer at HMP Chelmsford, but also a failure of HM Probation Service, the Home Office and the Police.
As Mr Kebatu, a child sex offender was being released, the probation service did not to take steps to protect the public. It is unclear whether Mr Kebatu signed any licence conditions upon his release and if he did then probation are complicit in the error.
As part of his sentence, Mr Kebatu was also given a 5-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years. This meant that Kebatu should have reported to a Police Station to disclose where he would be staying for the night.
It is unclear whether that was done because when he was released, Mr Kebatu was homeless and was also very confused about his release. It is reported he returned to the prison in a very confused state 4-5 times but was turned away by prison staff.
It is also reported that Mr Kebatu was being released to an immigration centre, but it appears that no arrangements have been made for this as well. This was a convicted child sex offender subject to deportation who was being released from prison. He was a very high risk of absconding and yet he had no escort.
In our view this current system is dangerous and fundamentally breaches the overriding objective of public safety which could lead to catastrophic consequences.
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