London police arrest sex offender, asylum-seeker mistakenly released from prison

London police said on Sunday they arrested a convicted sex offender and asylum-seeker who was mistakenly released from prison in a blunder that has embarrassed the government.

The Metropolitan Police said Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area in north London. Police said he will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service.

Before he was released in error, Kebatu had already been in national news because his arrest earlier this year over the sexual assault of a teenage girl triggered a wave of angry anti-migrant protests in London and other cities.

Authorities said they were alerted Friday afternoon that Kebatu, 38, was released by mistake at a prison in Chelmsford, Essex, and was seen catching a London-bound train there. British media reported that he was wrongly categorised as a prisoner due to be released, instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.

The migrant was sentenced in September to 12 months in prison for five offences, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in July in Epping, on the outskirts of London, just over a week after he had arrived in England by boat.

Thousands of people protested outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, northeast of London, where he was staying along with other newly arrived migrants. Multiple protests targeting other hotels housing migrants followed in other British cities and towns, with some demonstrations attended by far-right activists and spilling into disorder.

The group Stand Up to Racism also rallied in counterprotests.

The Prison Service launched an investigation, and a prison officer has been removed from discharging duties while that takes place.

Government officials have described the mistake as an “egregious failure,” and the Ministry of Justice has opened an investigation to find out what went wrong and who was accountable.

“This man was behind bars because of serious sex offences,” Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Sky News on Sunday. “He is not meant to be in this country. In fact, what was supposed to happen was that he was meant to be transferred for deportation. So the idea that he’s loose on our streets is incredibly serious. It is a serious failure.”

The issue of unauthorised migration — especially the tens of thousands of migrants crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats to reach the UK — has risen to the top of the political agenda in Britain. The government’s policy of using hotels to house migrants who are awaiting a decision on their asylum status has also come under heavy criticism.