Today saw the end of a manhunt for Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who was accidentally released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday.

The high-profile criminal sparked protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping in July, where he had been living while seeking asylum.

Since Friday, after his release, Kebatu was spotted in Chelmsford and Hackney. On Sunday morning, Kebatu was rearrested in Finsbury Park, north London.

Kebatu is being transferred by police back to the prison service, where he will await deportation in a London jail - this should happen in the next week, says Justice Secretary David Lammy.

The remaining questions are then how this could have happened and how it can be prevented.

Lammy has promised a full independent inquiry into the blunder.

Despite Kebatu's release in error sparking public attention, this is not a unique case - government data shows more than 260 prisoners in England and Wales were mistakenly released in the year leading up to March 2025, a 128% increase compared to the previous year.

Former prison officials have told the BBC that the prison service is overloaded.

Now, in response to the Kebatu blunder, the prison service has announced additional mandatory checks on prisoner releases - but senior staff tell the BBC this is just adding more to their workload.

Lammy has also said the government will increase funding for probation - but how that will happen, and whether it would be effective, is a question for another debate.

We're ending our live coverage now. You can read more about this story here. Thank you for joining us.

We've just heard from Justice Secretary David Lammy, who told us what will happen next:

• Kebatu will be deported "this week" - once he's been questioned by police about his movements since Friday
• Tomorrow, Lammy will make a statement in Parliament and address the terms of reference for a full independent inquiry into how the mistaken prisoner release happened
• The government will also increase funding for probation, to ensure there are more prison places
• Lammy also pointed to the sentencing bill going through Parliament at the moment, which he says will "make the system stronger".

Lammy next talks about the steps moving forward.

The government "will be increasing our funding to probation" to make sure there are more prison places, Lammy says, adding that there's also a sentencing bill going through Parliament that will "make the system stronger".

He's then asked about some comments made by Reform MP Sarah Pochin, who told a Talk TV phone-in on Saturday that "it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people".

Lammy says these statements "were mean, were nasty and were racist" and calls for her to be sacked by Nigel Farage.

With that, Lammy wrapped up his Q&A session.

Lammy goes on to say the government needs to "get to the bottom of how this happened and why it happened".

He says the public needs to be reassured that people due to be released are released properly.

Asked why figures for wrongful releases are rising, Lammy says the Labour government "inherited a system that was collapsing [from the Tories]".

Lammy then acknowledges that the victims of Kebatu's crime and their families had "an anxious time".

"I'm glad we brought that to an end," he says.

We've just heard from Justice Secretary David Lammy, who's been visiting Wood Green police station in London.

Speaking outside, he thanks the various police forces involved - as well as the public - for helping to find Hadush Kebatu.

He adds that Kebatu's premature release from prison was "unacceptable".

"I can assure you that he will be deported as he was expecting to be deported. I expect that to happen this week," Lammy says, stressing that Kebatu must first be questioned by police over his movements since Friday.

Lammy says he'll make a statement in Parliament on Monday, and will address the terms of reference for a full independent inquiry when he speaks to the Commons.

In the meantime, the justice secretary confirms that a member of staff has been suspended.

"It's not just one person to discharge a prisoner... there are various procedures to go through right down the line," says Vanessa Frake-Harris, a retired prison governor.

She tells the BBC News Channel about the lengthy process a prisoner goes through before release: "Starting the day before, the governor signs off the paperwork making sure that the discharge is right."

Next, a prisoner is "identified on the morning of discharge, taken to reception, searched, given his belongings back, given a discharge grant," she says.

They're identified three times in total - by a custodial manager who makes sure the prisoner understands what's happening, says Frake-Harris, before a final check of the prisoner at the gate.

"There seems to be a breakdown of several stages to this" which "suggests a training issue", she says.

The president of the Criminal Justice Workers Union says the "public are quite right to be worried" by the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu.

"The public are being put at risk by stupid mistakes that are being made," Aaron Stowe tells the BBC.

As we've been reporting, Kebatu isn't the only one to be released in error. Government data shows more than 260 prisoners in England and Wales were mistakenly released in the year leading up to March 2025.

Stowe says it's "absolutely true" that some staff aren't correctly trained because of the squeeze on spending on criminal justice.

"We need money pumped into the system," he says.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu has been speaking to the BBC about Hadush Kebatu's wrongful release from prison and the search for him.

He says it looks from footage that Kebatu was "fairly confused", and he would have been desperate to get help, as he's an asylum seeker with no access to public funds.

Asked whether something on this scale had happened when he was at the Met Police, Babu says he worked on a borough with two prisons and did get "occasional reports that prisoners had been let out".

"Most of the time these things go under the radar, but obviously with the nature of this particular offender it became national news."

According to the prison service's annual digest, 262 prisoners in England and Wales were mistakenly released in the year leading up to March 2025.

Image source, Getty Images

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has thanked the Met Police for their efforts to track down and arrest Hadush Kebatu.

After a two-day manhunt that spanned from Essex to the capital, Kebatu was rearrested this morning by officers in Finsbury Park, north London.

Khan praises the Met's officers for their "swift and professional work".

He adds: "This was a complex and fast moving operation. I’m grateful for their hard work, and also to the public for their assistance."

Hadush Kebatu is now in police custody again and set to be handed over to the prison service ahead of imminent deportation. Details are continuing to emerge about how this manhunt came to an end and what its impact will be.

If you're just joining us, here's what we've learned:

• A member of the public saw a man he believed to be Kebatu at a bus stop near Finsbury Park Station earlier today - he alerted police, who found Kebatu a short while later and arrested him in Finsbury Park
• An eyewitness says Kebatu "wasn't trying to get away" when he was arrested, and walked away with officers "quite calmly" - new video shows the moment police arrested him at 08:19 this morning
• With no phone or bank card, Kebatu lacked a digital trail, says the Metropolitan Police - so the force worked "painstakingly through CCTV from the railway network" and used input from the public to locate him

• Following instructions earlier from Justice Secretary David Lammy for an "immediate strengthening" of release checks in prison, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has introduced new measures that require the duty governor to complete additional checks the evening before a prisoner release

A witness who saw Kebatu being escorted out of Finsbury Park by police after being rearrested says the convicted sex offender was walking "calmly" and "wasn't trying to get away".

Jack Neill-Hall tells the PA news agency he spotted police officers with "their hands on" Kebatu while he was walking his dog in the park.

He says the asylum seeker "was walking quite calmly, a bit dejectedly" alongside officers - his hands cuffed, hood up and gaze lowered.

"It was a leisurely stroll out of the park with him with his hands cuffed but he wasn't trying to get away," says Neill-Hall.

The 40-year-old recognised Kebatu from media reports over the weekend, but noticed he was wearing different clothes to the prison-issued tracksuit he was filmed wearing.

He adds that he could not see any police vehicles nor hear sirens during the rearrest.

Earlier, Health Secretary Wes Streeting voiced his "huge relief" to hear of Hadush Kebatu's arrest.

Kebatu will be deported, he says, but questions still remain on what went wrong and the circumstances that led to his wrongful release.

Image source, PA Media

The search for convicted sex offender Hadush Kebatu began at 12:57 on Friday, after Essex Police were informed by the Prison Service that there had been "an error" and he had been mistakenly released.

Prison sources confirmed to the BBC that staff led him away and towards the train station. Kebatu also reportedly attempted to return to prison but was turned away.

By the time the search started, Kebatu had boarded a 12:41 Greater Anglia service from Chelmsford to London.

The train stopped first at Shenfield at 12:51 and then stopped at Stratford, where the Met Police say Kebatu got off, at 13:12.

Later that day, he was picked up on CCTV at a library in Dalston Square, east London, at approximately 18:00 and he was then spotted in Hackney shortly before 20:00.

This morning, the Met Police confirmed he had been located and rearrested in the Finsbury Park area, north London.

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

Earlier, we reported that Justice Secretary David Lammy has ordered an "immediate strengthening" of release checks in prisons. Our correspondent has more on these measures.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has introduced new and mandatory procedures for prison releases.

The duty governor, who is responsible for the daily secure operation of the prison, will be required to complete additional checks the evening before a release.

Governors will need to provide assurance that the procedure is in place on Monday.

But senior prison staff tell me this is just adding more to their workload.

They argue the paperwork required to release someone is already at optimum levels and this will only increase pressure on a system that is already struggling to cope.

There is anger among some staff over why they weren’t consulted about these plans before being announced.

One asked whether it was a "knee-jerk reaction" from the government to show something was being done in light of the mistake.

On 23 September, Hadush Kebatu was jailed for 12 months for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex. He was found guilty of:

• two counts of sexual assault
• one count of attempted sexual assault
• one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity
• one count of harassment without violence

Kebatu was also made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which bans him from approaching or contacting any female. And he was put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

As our correspondent Helena Wilkinson explains, the order was put in place to protect the public.

In his sentencing remarks District Judge Williams said he was "satisfied" that Kebatu posed a risk of sexual harm to female adults and children.

He added: "There is a significant risk of you committing a further sexual offence and the lack of any explanation for your behaviour suggests not only that you pose a risk, but that your behaviour is unpredictable."

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

We've just received more information from the Met Police about Hadush Kebatu's arrest.

Kebatu is currently in Met custody but is shortly being picked up by the prison service and will be taken to a London prison.

Vinnie O'Dowd
BBC News

Here's the moment police arrested the mistakenly released sex offender at around 08:19 this morning in the Finsbury Park area:

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

Image source, PA Media

I've been given some new details from the Met about how they carried out the search for Hadush Kebatu - here's what they had to say:

"Although Kebatu had personal cash on him when he left prison, he didn’t have a phone or bank cards, which removes a lot of our most obvious tech-based options.

"It was a case of working painstakingly through CCTV from the railway network initially, establishing where he had eventually left a station and then going from camera to camera trying to trace his steps.

"The reality with that is you’re always many hours behind which is why turning to the public, once we’d narrowed down a location, was important.

"We’ve seen quite a lot of commentary online that imagines a much more sophisticated pan-London camera/tracking type set up which just isn’t realistic."

The Met Police has shared more information on how they came to rearrest convicted sex offender Hadush Kebatu.

They say they were called at 08:03 GMT by a member of the public who had seen a man believed to be Kebatu at a bus stop near Finsbury Park Station.

Numerous officers were then deployed to carry out a search of the area.

At 08:19 GMT, officers spotted a man matching Kebatu's description inside the park - a short distance from the entrance opposite Finsbury Park Road.

They confirmed this man was Hadush Kebatu and arrested him for being unlawfully at large.

Image source, BBC/Handout

Mistakenly-released sex offender Hadush Kebatu has been arrested this morning after a two-day manhunt. Here's a rundown of the developments we've heard so far.

• The first pictures of Kebatu's arrest today in London's Finsbury Park area have been released
• Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed that Kebatu will be deported after the convicted sex offender's arrest this morning
• The Met Police confirmed Kebatu had been rearrested by officers at about 08:30 this morning in the Finsbury Park area of London
• Meanwhile, Justice Secretary David Lammy says he has ordered a full investigation into the erroneous release, and has instructed an "immediate strengthening" of release checks in prisons
• Conservative MP for Epping Neil Hudson has urged the government to "accept full accountability" for the incident
• Our news correspondent has more on the circumstances around Kebatu's time in custody - and looks at why he was set to be sent to an immigration detention centre