former prison officer reveals shocking string of errors that would have led to migrant sex offender’s mistaken release

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu during his arrest (Picture: Crown Prosecution Service/PA Wire)

The officer agreed that what caused the actual mistake would have been down to human error – explaining that incredibly it could have come down to the convict’s name being mispelled or the wrong file was grabbed. This would have then allowed Kebatu to simply walk out the door with the £76 discharge grant handed to him by the prison to cover his first week’s expenses. 

He went on to say that HMP Chelmsford is notorious within the prison officer community of being ‘crowded but understaffed’ meaning it is hard to spot such serious errors. 

‘It is a catergory B jail,there will be prisoners going in and out everyday for court dates and visits,and they are so understaffed,’ he said. ‘It is just part of a wider issue of prison funding.’

Follow Kebatu’s release,a delivery driver described seeing him return to HMP Chelmsford in a ‘very confused’ state ‘four or five times’,only to be turned away by prison staff and directed to the local railway station.

The driver,named only as Sim,told Sky News that he saw Kebatu come out of the prison saying ‘Where am I going? What am I doing?’.

He said that the sexual offender knew that he should be deported but the prison staff were ‘basically sending him away’ and saying to him ‘Go,you’ve been released,you go’.

Aaron Stow,president of the Criminal Justice Workers’ Union (CJWU),said Kebatu’s mistaken release was ‘a profound failure of duty’.

He said: ‘The release of Hadush Kebatu is a betrayal of the victims,the community and the principles of justice. We demand a full investigation and immediate reforms to ensure this never happens again.’

One enior justice source told the Daily Mail: ‘This is the mother of all f***-ups.’

In the 12 months to March this year,262 prisoners were released in error in England and Wales,according to the prison service’s annual digest.

‘This is a 128% increase from 115 the previous year,and the highest in the time series,’ the report said.

‘Of the 262 releases in error,233 of these releases in error occurred from prison establishments,while 29 were released in error at the courts.’