Migrant offender got £500 not to disrupt deportation

A migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison in a major blunder was paid £500 to leave the UK, it has emerged.

- MILLIE COOKE CAITLIN DOHERTY

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said she shared the public’s anger over Hadush Kebatu’s bungled release and had “pulled every lever” to remove him from British soil – but revelations about the cash payment are likely to spark further outrage. Kebatu, who was forcibly sent back to Ethiopia on Tuesday night with a team of five escorts on the flight, was given a £500 payment after threatening to disrupt his deportation flight.

Downing Street said yesterday that the payment had been an “operational decision” and came after officials rejected an application from Kebatu for a scheme that has offered up to £1,500 in resettlement grants in the past.

The government said the alternative was a “slower and more expensive process”, which could have included further detention, a new flight potentially costing thousands of pounds and fighting subsequent legal claims, it said.

In an interview with Sky News after landing in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Kebatu claimed he tried to hand himself in the morning after he was released, but he was “ignored”.

He claimed he told officers: “I will give you my hand. Please help me, where is the police station? Take me, I am wanted.”

Sky News reported the Metropolitan Police said it was “not aware of any evidence” that would support Kebatu’s claims. It added that his actions on the morning of his rearrest “were more like those of someone trying to avoid officers, not trying to hand himself in”.