A delivery driver recounted witnessing prison staff directing a perplexed migrant sex offender, who had been mistakenly released, towards the train station after he lingered outside the facility for an hour and a half.

The driver, named Sim, observed the bewildered individual repeatedly expressing uncertainty to the staff, pleading, “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where I’m going,” while seeking assistance.

Sim, who was delivering appliances to the prison around 10:10 AM, witnessed Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, now the focus of a police search, as he was let go erroneously.

In an interview with Sky News, Sim described how Kebatu stood outside the prison for approximately 90 minutes, with officers repeatedly telling him, “Go, you’ve been released, you go.”

Sim watched Kebatu enter and exit the prison multiple times, noting his apparent confusion and frequent gestures of scratching his head while asking, “Where do I go, where do I go?”

Sim emphasized that Kebatu didn’t vanish or flee; rather, the officers, who appeared indifferent, eventually provided him with directions to the train station.

He added that the convicted asylum seeker had been holding a pack of paperwork in his arms and a clear bag of his belongings when he believed he was being deported – but had no clue where to go. His English, Sim said, had been ‘pretty good’. 

By the time Essex Police were told that Kebatu had been released by mistake, the sex offender was already on the train to London. 

It is not known whether Kebatu paid the £20.90 cost of the train ticket, although the prisoner was handed £76 by the prison service upon release as a ‘discharge grant’.

This latest revelation comes as the net is apparently closing in on the migrant sex attacker mistakenly freed from prison yesterday, as Metropolitan Police said the force had taken over the investigation and revealed where he was last seen. 

Specialist officers have launched a massive manhunt for Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 41, who was released in error from HMP Chelmsford on Friday. 

The convicted asylum seeker, who was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl last month, was seen boarding a London-bound train at Chelmsford station at 12.41pm yesterday afternoon. 

CCTV has revealed he left the train at Stratford at around 1.06pm, with police saying there is ‘a high degree of confidence’ Kebatu is still in the area. 

Stratford, east London, is a major hub in the city with significant transport links. It is usually crowded with shoppers from Westfield Stratford City shopping centre at the weekend. 

The father of the girl who was assaulted by Kebatu turned up at Chelmsford jail visibly upset yesterday and begging for answers, telling Sky News he felt ‘let down’ by the system and ‘frustrated’ at the idea that Kebatu had been able to escape prison after attacking his daughter this summer. 

‘The justice system has let us down’, he said. 

Kebatu, who was jailed for a year just one month ago after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old and a woman, has £76 on him – the discharge grant he was handed by the prison to cover his first week’s expenses after being wrongly categorised as a prisoner due to be released on licence, the Telegraph reported. 

Bungling prison staff on Friday wrongly freed the ‘dangerous’ Channel migrant back into the community rather than to a Home Office immigration centre, where he was supposed to be deported. 

And it has now emerged that it took more than an hour for prison staff to realise their terrible error – giving Kebatu a big head start over the authorities.

Essex Police said they were only informed about Kebatu’s wrongful release by the prison service at 12.57pm, while it remains unconfirmed when exactly the prisoner was freed. 

In an updated Met Police statement on Saturday, Commander James Conway said: ‘Finding Hadush Kebatu is a top priority. The manhunt is being led by an experienced senior investigating officer. 

‘He has teams from the Specialist Crime Command with expertise in tracking down wanted people at his disposal, as well as other resources from across the Met.

‘We’ve confirmed that Kebatu got off the London-bound train at Stratford station.

‘We are examining CCTV from that area and further afield, including on the transport network, to establish information about his subsequent movements.

‘We will provide further updates when we can, but I hope the press and the public will understand why it would be unhelpful to the effectiveness of the manhunt if we were to provide a detailed running commentary.

‘Anyone who sees Kebatu, or has information about his whereabouts, should call 999 immediately.’

District Judge Christopher Williams said that Kebatu posed a ‘significant risk of reoffending’ when he was given a 12 month sentence in September.

The UK Borders Act 2007 states that a deportation order must be made when a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.

It has left Labour facing fresh questions about its handling of the migrant crisis amid accusations of ‘breathtaking incompetence’. 

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said it showed ‘a level of incompetence that beggars belief’.

Police said that the Ethiopian – whose offences led to protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex this summer – was seen boarding a London-bound train at Chelmsford station at 12.41pm.

Video footage captured him in Chelmsford town centre at 12.07pm, asking for directions from locals while still wearing his prison-issue grey tracksuit and clutching a plastic bag containing his possessions.

Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick said the case was ‘a parable for how the British state consistently fails the British people’.

He added: ‘It’s outrageous the victims have been failed in this way. The whole saga is a national embarrassment. He should have been on a flight out of the UK long ago.’

A senior justice source admitted: ‘This is the mother of all f***-ups.’

Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the blunder which saw Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu released was a ‘big mistake’.

She said: ‘This is an operational matter and I’m sure the Ministry of Justice will be making their comments on that soon.

‘But obviously it’s a big mistake and we need to find him quickly and make sure that he’s deported, and that’s what we’ll be determined to do.’

He launched an immediate inquiry, and a member of prison staff was removed from duties.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was said to be furious about the blunder, which was put down to ‘human error’ at HMP Chelmsford, where Kebatu had been in custody awaiting ‘imminent’ deportation. 

‘Remorseless’ Kebatu was jailed for a year last month after harassing his 14-year-old victim, saying he wanted to marry her and ‘have babies’, then touching her before trying to kiss a woman who came to the terrified girl’s rescue. 

His arrest led to protesters and counter-protesters taking to the streets in Epping and eventually outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.

Fury erupted at the mistake on Friday night, with the Government accused of failing to protect victims, children and the wider public from dangerous offenders such as Kebatu.

It comes amid a backlash against efforts to tackle illegal migration after a migrant who was deported under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme with France reappeared on UK shores this week having simply crossed the Channel again in a small boat.

Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘The mistaken release at HMP Chelmsford is totally unacceptable. I am appalled that it has happened and it’s being investigated. The police are working urgently to track him down, and my Government is supporting them.

‘This man must be caught and deported for his crimes.’

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘The entire system is collapsing under Labour.

‘Conservatives voted against Labour’s prisoner-release program because it was putting predators back on our streets. But this man has only just been convicted.’

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised Mr Lammy and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, adding: ‘It is disgraceful that a dangerous convicted paedophile who attacked a 14-year-old girl has been allowed to vanish.

‘This despicable man is an illegal immigrant who should have been deported immediately when he arrived. This is breathtaking incompetence by David Lammy and Shabana Mahmood.

‘They have put our children at further risk by letting this dangerous illegal immigrant out on to our streets. They are responsible for anything he may do. Illegal immigrants ought to be deported within a week, but the Government is too weak to do that.’

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: ‘Britain is broken.’ 

Mr Lammy said: ‘We are urgently working with the police to track him down and I’ve ordered an urgent investigation. Kebatu must be deported for his crimes, not on our streets.’

During his trial this summer, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard that Kebatu acted ‘ignorantly and repulsively’ when he launched his double attack just eight days after arriving in the country on a small boat.

Kebatu became aroused as he put his hand on the girl’s thighs and stroked her hair despite knowing ‘full well she was only 14’, the court heard.

He said he wanted to marry her and have a baby with her, and invited her back to The Bell, where he was staying.

The migrant, who was a sports teacher in his home country, then tried to kiss a woman who attempted to intervene, before putting his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty.

After assaulting the schoolgirl, Kebatu was chased back to the hotel by his adult victim, who called police.

Kebatu denied three counts of sexual assault, one of attempted sexual assault, a charge of harassment and another of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, but was convicted on all charges.

District Judge Christopher Williams said his ‘disgusting and sickening’ behaviour highlighted his ‘poor regard… for women’. Following his conviction, defence barrister Molly Dyas told the court: ‘His wish is to be deported as soon as possible.’

Kebatu was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order, and put on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.

Essex Police said: ‘We were informed by the prison service at 12.57pm of an error this morning surrounding the release of an individual.

‘We have launched a search operation to locate them.’

The force added: ‘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.’  

The Prison Service said: ‘We are urgently working with police to return an offender to custody following a release in error. Public protection is our top priority and we have launched an investigation into this incident.’ 

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary David Lammy should take responsibility for the blunder that led to Kebatu being accidentally released, Epping Forest’s Tory MP said.

Neil Hudson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘This sounds like an operational error, but the buck has to stop somewhere, and it has to stop at the top, at the Justice Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister.

‘They have said that they are livid and appalled. Well, quite right, they should be livid and appalled. But that’s not good enough, and the Labour Government needs to get a grip of this issue.

‘They need to apprehend this man, but they’ve got to sort this issue out, and that’s what my constituents, who are deeply distressed and upset, are saying.’

In the 12 months leading up to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error in England and Wales, according to the prison service’s annual digest.

‘This is a 128% increase from 115 the previous year, and the highest in the time series,’ the report said.

‘Of the 262 releases in error, 233 of these releases in error occurred from prison establishments, while 29 were released in error at the courts.’

Marie Goldman, the Lib Dem MP for Chelmsford, told BBC Breakfast: ‘We need to get to grips with what happened and why it happened.

‘Chelmsford is a remand prison, which means it is used to having prisoners coming and going quite frequently. 

‘They are held in HMP Chelmsford for not a very long time, usually when they are waiting for trial or maybe for a couple of weeks after they have had trial and are waiting to be transferred to another prison. 

‘If this sort of thing can happen at Chelmsford then it is very likely that it can happen elsewhere.’ 

Ms Goldman also said she had tried to contact the prisoner governor for an explanation and was told ‘the governor was not speaking to stakeholders individually’ – a response she called ‘unacceptable’. 

Police are advising anyone who sees Kebatu or knows where he is to call 999 immediately.