A migrant sex offender mistakenly released from an Essex prison was last seen in the Dalston area of Hackney, north London, just before 20:00 on Friday, according to the Metropolitan Police.

CCTV footage released by police shows Hadush Kebatu in a Dalston Square library at around 18:00, wearing a prison-issue grey tracksuit and carrying a white bag decorated with pictures of avocados.

Additional officers have been deployed to locate the Ethiopian national, who was set free weeks after being jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex, while staying in a hotel.

Appealing to Kebatu, Cmd James Conway said: “We want to locate you in a safe and controlled way.”

He added: “You had already indicated a desire to return to Ethiopia when speaking to immigration staff. The best outcome for you is to make contact directly with us by either calling 999 or reporting yourself to a police station.”

On Saturday, Conway said the force was “pursuing all lines of enquiry” into his disappearance, adding that Kebatu had access to funds and had sought assistance from members of the public.

Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, has made a number of train journeys across London since he boarded a train in Chelmsford at 12:41 on Friday afternoon, before getting off at Stratford, Conway added.

Anyone who sees Kebatu should call 999 immediately, the Met Police said in a statement.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy has ordered candidates to be chosen to lead an independent investigation into Kebatu’s accidental release.

In addition, new procedures for prisons will come into effect on Monday, mandating additional checks the evening before a release is due to take place.

Duty governors – responsible for the daily secure operation of the prison – will have to confirm the procedure is in place on Monday.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made against Kebatu, when he was sentenced in September, on the grounds the judge agreed he posed a risk of sexual harm to female adults and children.

Earlier, Essex Police – who handed the lead of the investigation to the Met at 11:30 on Saturday – said: “It is not lost on us that this situation is concerning to people, and we are committed to locating and arresting him as quickly as possible.”

It is not clear exactly what led to his release, but prison sources have told the BBC prison staff from HMP Chelmsford lead Kebatu away from the prison and towards the train station.

A prison officer from HMP Chelmsford has been suspended, but a senior prison staffer said the error was “down to a series of mistakes, probably because staff are overworked and in short supply”.

“It’s not just one prison officer who’s to blame. That would be unfair,” they added.

John Podmore – a former governor of HMP Brixton, Belmarsh and Swaleside, and a former prison inspector – said the error should be seen “in the context of wider failure”, adding he hoped a “lower down official is not thrown under the bus”.

“I am afraid this is what happens in a broken system and the prison system is broken,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Kebatu’s arrest in July sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been living after arriving in the UK.

In September, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard Kebatu tried to kiss a teenage girl on a bench and made numerous sexually explicit comments.

The following day, he encountered the same girl and tried to kiss her before sexually assaulting her. He also sexually assaulted a woman who had offered to help him draft a CV to find work.

During the trial, Kebatu gave his date of birth as December 1986, making him 38, but court records suggested he was 41.

He was found guilty of five offences and sentenced to 12 months. He was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which banned him from approaching or contacting any female, and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

The court heard it was his “firm wish” to be deported.

It is not clear where Kebatu was being deported to but under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and has received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.

Kebatu was arrested on 8 July and was released in error 108 days later. Upon his release he would have been eligible for a £76 discharge payment.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the release was a “level of incompetence that beggars belief”.

“Conservatives voted against Labour’s prisoner release program because it was putting predators back on our streets,” she said on X.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “He is now walking the streets of Essex. Britain is broken.”

A report from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service said 262 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 115 in the previous 12 months.