UK police arrest wrongly-released asylum seeker sex offender
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LONDON - British police said on Sunday they had arrested Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison, in north London after a nearly three-day manhunt.
Kebatu was in September sentenced to a 12-month term for sexual assaults of a teenage girl and a woman, and was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported when he was freed by mistake on Friday.
"This has been a diligent and fast-paced investigation led by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police, supported by Essex Police and the British Transport Police," Commander James Conway, who oversaw the operation, said in a statement on Sunday.
"Information from the public led officers to Finsbury Park and following a search, they located Mr Kebatu. He was detained by police, but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service."
The 38-year-old Ethiopian's offences sparked angry summer-long protests outside the hotel where he was living in Essex, east of London, events which helped set off other demonstrations amid rising tensions in Britain over immigration. REUTERS
