A delivery driver who spoke to wanted migrant Hadush Kebatu at Chelmsford prison has told Sky News the “confused” offender was guided to the railway station by prison staff.
The mistake triggered a manhunt that now involves three police forces looking for the Ethiopian in London.
The driver, called Sim, was delivering equipment to the prison on Friday when Kebatu was released in error instead of being handed over to immigration officials for deportation.
The lorry driver explained to Sky News that Kebatu approached him and seemed to have no idea of where he was supposed to go.
“He came out of the airlock, and kept saying to the officers there, ‘Where am I going? What am I doing? I don’t know where I’m going and what I’m doing.’
“He was holding a pack of paperwork in his arms, and his bag of bits…
“He knew he’d been deported. He came over to me and said, ‘I need you to help me.’
“His English was pretty good.”
Sim, who still has the vehicle pass from the prison, said that after a while a member of prison staff directed the offender to Chelmsford station to catch a train to London, and “told him that he had to get on a train”.
He says Kebatu must have been outside the prison for roughly “an hour and a half” before finally leaving, adding, “They [the officers] were basically sending him away, saying, ‘Go, you’ve been released, you go.’
Sim describes Kebatu as being “very confused,” saying, “He kept scratching his head and saying, ‘Where do I go, where do I go?’
“The fourth or fifth time [he went into the reception] he was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed. I’m not sticking up for the guy, but in my eyes, he was trying to do the right thing. He knew he was getting deported, but he didn’t know where he was going or how he should get there.”
He added that the officers had no interest in helping him, saying, ‘You’re released, you’re released’.
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Read more: How many prisoners are released by mistake?
Sim describes witnessing a “a big, massive manhunt” when he left the prison after making his delivery, with a police helicopter in the sky and lots of sirens and officers everywhere.
He says it wasn’t until he got home that he realised the drama was around the man he had been speaking to.
Describing his feelings about the debacle, Sim said: “It’s scary how this has all unfolded, and how easily he’s been able to get out and then be around the public.
“He’s obviously not a secure man. He shouldn’t have been released and the fact there’s so many officers there – how come no one’s clocked it sooner?”
He went on: “Someone here has messed up… I know someone has been taken off duty… But to me, there’s got to be more people that allowed this to happen, not just one person…
“It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I very much doubt it will be the last”
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When approached for comment, the Ministry of Justice referred Sky News to comments by David Lammy on Friday night, where he said: “I’m appalled, I’m livid on behalf of the public that Kebatu is at large.
“He should be deported back to Ethiopia after the sexual assaults that he’s committed.”
