deported immediately, not money. It's a shameful farce'

On loose... Hadush Kebatu, below, seen in East London

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Kemi Badenoch said that the Government "handed £500 ...to a vile foreign sex attacker" and declared: "Hadush Kebatu should have been deported immediately, not released and sent home with pocket money.

"The Conservatives have a serious plan to leave the [European Convention on Human Rights] and deport all foreign criminals, ensuring that this sort of outrageous waste of taxpayers' money never happens again." The Tory leader added: "The whole thing is a shameful farce, which just shows Keir Starmer doesn't have the backbone to deal with our illegal immigration problem."

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "The Government should not have needed to pay this illegal immigrant who sexually preyed on a young girl to leave. Kebatu should have been immediately and forcibly deported without payment."

Kebatu, said to be 41, was housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after arriving in the UK illegally on a small boat. Days later he sexually assaulted a girl of 14 and a woman.

Although he was jailed for a year, due to time served on remand he was eligible for immediate explusion. But it took four weeks to finalise his deportation with Ethiopia.

Kebatu was then freed from HMP Chelmsford instead of being taken to a removal centre and was recaptured three days later in a North London park, near a play area.

Last night he claimed he had tried to hand himself in after being mistakenly released, only to be ignored by police.