Sex assault migrant released from prison by mistake was PAID £500 in taxpayers’ cash to leave Britain

The migrant sex offender who was wrongly released from prison has been handed £500 in taxpayers’ money to leave Britain. 

Footage captured from Heathrow Airport showed the moment Hadush Kebatu, 38, was escorted on to a plane to Ethiopia last night. 

He was mistakenly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning after serving just one month of his year-long sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Kebatu was given a ‘discretionary’ payment of £500 by the Home Office, it is understood.

The money was handed over because of the threats by Kebatu to ‘disrupt’ the removals flight, sources said.

It is understood that even though his original trial heard it was his ‘firm wish’ to return to Ethiopia, his compliance with immigration officials deteriorated yesterday.

He threatened to launch a legal challenge against his removal and even said he was considering lodging a new asylum claim with the Home Office. 

After indicating he would go quietly in exchange for the cash, Kebatu was forcibly deported from Britain by a team of five security escorts.

Kebatu should have been transferred to a deportation centre last week, but clueless prison officers repeatedly told him to leave and get on a train to London instead. 

The Ethiopian national, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was arrested in north London on Sunday morning after a two-day manhunt. 

He was pictured being detained by four officers inside Finsbury Park, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowing he ‘will be deported’.

The Home Office confirmed Kebatu was removed on a flight to Ethiopia last night and arrived this morning.

A source said the decision to pay the sex offender £500 was designed to save wider costs to the taxpayer, including paying for his detention, new air tickets and legal fees if he lodged a legal challenge against his removal.

The alternative would have been ‘slower and more expensive’, they suggested. 

Ministers were not involved in the decision to pay the sum, the source added, and Home Office removal teams had been responsible for allocating the funds.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘Last week’s blunder should never have happened – and I share the public’s anger that it did. 

Kebatu pictured on the plane to Ethiopia as he is deported with no right to return to the UK

Footage captured from Heathrow Airport showed the moment Kebatu, 38, was escorted on to a plane last night

This is the moment Kebatu (second from left) was arrested by Met Police officers in Finsbury Park, north London

‘I would like to thank the police for rapidly bringing Mr Kebatu into custody and the public for their vigilance.

‘I have pulled every lever to deport Mr Kebatu and remove him off British soil. I am pleased to confirm this vile child sex offender has been deported. 

‘Our streets are safer because of it. If you come to this country and commit crimes, we will remove you.’

A minister said it was ‘unacceptable’ that a prisoner had been released without checks being done to ensure that was correct.

It was put to border security minister Alex Norris on Sky News that the situation ‘beggars belief,’ to which he replied: ‘It’s unacceptable. 

‘It’s why were so angry about it, it’s why we’ve put those changes in.’

Mr Norris said ministers ‘are not involved in the operational movements’ such as those that happened overnight, and declined to comment on any cash payments received by the offender.

A CCTV image issued by the Metropolitan Police (pictured) shows Hadush Kebatu in Dalston, London, on Friday night 

The Home Office operates a ‘facilitated returns scheme’ (FRS) which allows foreign offenders to receive hand-outs of up to £1,500 if they agree to leave this country.

Kebatu applied for thsi pay-out but was refused, it is understood. 

The FRS also allows a £500 ‘discretionary additional’ payment aimed at what the Home Office describes as ‘vulnerable foreign national offenders’, such as those who are seriously ill, pregnant, mentally ill or disabled, elderly, homeless or destitute.

The rules of the scheme say: ‘This list is not exhaustive, and the merits of each application will be judged on a case-by-case basis.’

Kebatu is understood to have received the cash through this discretionary scheme.

Funds are usually loaded onto a payment card after an offender has been deported, which can then be used to withdraw cash when they arrive in their homeland.

The debacle has left Labour facing fresh questions about its handling of the migrant crisis.

Kebatu has, in theory, been deported with no right to ever return to Britain.

But last week it emerged that an Iranian small boat migrant returned to Britain across the Channel just weeks after being deported under Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ scheme. 

Further reports of migrants removed to France under the deal have thrown up fresh concerns over Britain’s porous borders.

Keabatu’s £500 payment was ‘an absolute disgrace’, the Conservatives have said.

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch’s spokesman said: ‘It’s an absolute disgrace and it goes to the heart of how much this Government is messing up our immigration system.

‘We have said we need to leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and deport all foreign criminals as soon as possible, and we certainly shouldn’t be giving them taxpayers’ money to leave our country.’

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the move had saved thousands of pounds of public money in the long run.

‘We turned down an application from him of a facilitated return scheme, which under successive governments has offered resettlement grants of up to £1,500.

‘However, given Kebatu threatened to disrupt the flight, an operational decision was taken to facilitate his return.

‘The alternative was a slower, more expensive process for the taxpayer, which would have included detention, a new flight and potentially fighting subsequent legal claims, and the cost of cancelling the flight alone would have run into several thousands of pounds.’

Kebatu had been living at The Bell Hotel in Epping at the time of his crimes, leading to widespread protests outside the Essex property, some of which turned violent.

It led to the local council, Epping Forest District Council, seeking to have the hotel closed to migrants due to what it said were planning breaches. 

Tory MP for Epping Forest Neil Hudson said he was ‘very relieved’ at Kebatu’s deportation, but ‘this hasn’t gone away for the people of Epping’.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘No-one wants to see our home town the lead story on the news, so this is incredibly frustrating and the Government must get a grip.

He reiterated calls for the Bell to cease housing asylum seekers, adding: ‘There are significant management and safeguarding issues related to this hotel, and actually what we need to see is that the hotel needs to be closed.

‘This is the wrong hotel in the wrong place, right near the forest, right near two schools.’

After he was freed from jail by mistake, Kebatu was initially filmed in Chelmsford speaking to members of the public, before he boarded a train to London at 12.41pm on Friday. 

CCTV then showed Kebatu in the Dalston area of Hackney just before 8pm that evening. 

He was also picked up at a library in Dalston Square around two hours earlier, wearing a prison grey tracksuit while clutching a white tote bag with avocados on it.

His movements on Saturday are unclear but the Met Police confirmed he was finally caught in Finsbury Park on Sunday morning, three days after the gaffe. 

In a picture of his arrest, Kebatu – who had access to funds – was seen wearing jeans, a puffer jacket and a hood over his head, having managed to change out of his prison tracksuit. 

Footage showed him being bundled into the back of a police van.

An inquiry is underway into how he was wrongly freed rather than being transferred to a Home Office immigration removal centre. 

It emerged that prison officers told Kebatu he had to make it to the removal centre under his own steam.

A delivery driver told Sky News: ‘I heard one of the officers saying, “This is how you get to the station, you go down here…” [he] directed him to the station and said he had to get on a train to get to this place… This conversation was at the front of the prison.’

In what caused further disbelief, Kebatu spent more than 90 minutes hanging around outside the prison because he simply did not know ‘where to go or what to do’.

The driver, who was delivering equipment to the prison, said: ‘[The officers] were basically sending him away, saying, “Go, you’ve been released, you go”.’

Even after being set free, Kebatu kept going ‘back and forth’ into the prison reception area seeking help and showing staff a wad of paperwork about his case, according to the driver.

Video footage (above) appeared to capture Kebatu in Chelmsford town centre asking for directions from locals

Footage from Sunday morning appears to show Kebatu being spoken to by officers and arrested in Finsbury Park

Footage shows Kebatu being bundled into the back of a police van after being arrested in Finsbury Park

‘I’m not sticking up for the guy but in my eyes he wanted to do the right thing and go to the right place,’ he said.

‘He knew he was getting deported but he didn’t know where to go or how he should get there. He kept scratching his head and saying, “Where do I go, where do I go?”.’

He added that the officers had no interest in helping him, saying, ‘You’re released, you’re released’.

Kebatu was jailed for a year last month after assaulting his 14-year-old victim. During his trial, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard that he acted ‘ignorantly and repulsively’.

The migrant became aroused as he put his hand on the girl’s thighs and stroked her hair despite knowing ‘full well she was only 14’.

He said he wanted to have a baby with her and invited her back to The Bell Hotel.

Kebatu then tried to kiss a woman who attempted to intervene, before putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty.

The asylum seeker gave his age as 38 during a court appearance but a judge said he had seen information indicating he was 41.