An Ethiopian national convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl was mistakenly released from prison on Friday. Thanks to the swift action of the London Metropolitan Police, the man was apprehended. He was found in the morning hours in the Finsbury Park district, located in the northern part of the city.
Convicted of Rape, Then Released by Mistake
Authorities disclosed that the arrest was made possible thanks to information provided by a private individual.
The 41-year-old man had been sentenced in September to 12 months in prison and had been serving his sentence at HMP Chelmsford in Essex, England. It was from this facility that he was mistakenly released on Friday, instead of being transferred to an immigration detention center for deportation. A search for him was underway ever since.
Police reported that immediately after leaving the prison, the man boarded a train traveling from Chelmsford station to London.
Following news of the erroneous release, one prison officer was suspended from duty pending an investigation into the matter.
Deportation?
After the man was once again taken into custody, British Justice Secretary David Lammy promised that “he will be deported.” In a post on social media, the minister thanked police officers for their “swift and meticulous work.”
“I have already ordered an immediate tightening of release procedures and a full investigation to determine what went wrong,” he added.
A Growing Number of Release “Errors”
According to British government statistics published in July, during the 12 months leading up to March 2025, 262 prisoners were mistakenly released. This represents an increase of 128% compared to the same period the previous year.