Farcical cases of prisoners being freed from jail by mistake have been laid bare in a new report, including one offender who was on the run for 579 days.
An official inquiry revealed new details of a series of shocking blunders, including cases where prisoners went on to commit new crimes after being freed in error.
The report focused on the mistaken release of sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford last October.
It highlighted a long list of failures which led to small boat migrant Kebatu being freed just one month into a 12 month sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex.
The offences took place while he was being housed at the taxpayers’ expense at the town’s Bell Hotel, sparking a series of anti-immigration protests.
The new report, by former National Crime Agency boss Dame Lynne Owens, found there were a series of unsatisfactory decisions taken on Kebatu’s case, as well as human error and shortcomings in technology and prison policies.
Dame Lynne also revealed a string of other cases for the first time.
One unnamed prisoner was wrongly freed from HMP Altcourse, in Liverpool, due to a ‘breakdown in information flow’ when his release date was being calculated.
‘The offender who was originally sentenced for theft, burglary with intent to steal, and driving while disqualified was released in error and remained unlawfully at large for 579 days during which time a further offence was committed,’ the report said.
In other cases a freed criminal was unlawfully at large for 255 days, during which time they committed an additional offence, and other was on the run for 230 days.
Dame Lynne also highlighted the case of a man sentenced for robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and handling stolen goods who was wrongly released in December 2024.
The prison failed to spot he was serving time for multiple convictions and he remained free for 174 days.
During that period he committed a new offence of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
In another case, a pair of co-defendants, who were father and son with the same name, were ‘mixed up by the prison due to the prison not identifying the correct date of birth on bail paperwork sent by the court’.
The son was supposed to be released but HMP Elmley, in Kent, freed the father instead.
‘The bail paperwork referenced the date of birth of the son … however, this was missed by the prison and so they ended up releasing the father,’ the report said.
The unnamed father – who was sentenced for robbery and burglary – was at large for five days.
In October last year a defendant awaiting trial for ‘sending communication threatening death or serious harm’ was mistakenly freed from HMP Peterborough after a court clerk logged incorrect bail details. He was at large for 40 days.
Dame Lynne made 33 recommendations to improve the way prison releases are handled.
Mr Lammy accepted all 33 ‘in principle’ and announced an £82million package to ‘crack down on mistaken releases’, including moves to ditch archaic paper-based records.
It will include a ‘single digital identity for every person who enters the prison system’ in a bid to avoid misidentification of inmates and track them through the system.
Data from the Ministry of Justice, published today, showed 179 prisoners were freed by mistake in England and Wales in the year to March, down from 262 in the previous 12 months but still higher than the 115 seen in the year before that.
Mr Lammy pledged to ‘cut release mistakes to as close to zero as possible’
‘This independent review makes clear the unacceptable rise in release in errors have resulted from a broken system caused by 14 years of underinvestment and overcrowding in our prisons and courts,’ he said.
‘Today we are taking action to bring the prison system into the 21st century.’
Kebatu was eventually arrested in north London after a three-day manhunt. He was deported.
