The UK government said Wednesday it had deported an Ethiopian migrant and convicted sex offender, giving him £500 ($661) to leave, as it came under fire on multiple fronts over immigration.
Ministers also announced a new deal with Vietnam to fast-track removals, the latest returns agreement London has struck, following a surge early last year in Vietnamese migrants arriving by small boats from France.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s centre-left government is facing intense pressure daily over various immigration-related issues, as thousands of migrants cross the English Channel monthly and amid a spate of high-profile criminal cases linked to past arrivals.
The case of Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman but who was mistakenly released from prison last week, has caused acute embarrassment.
His arrest earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked weeks of demonstrations targeting hotels where asylum seekers were believed to be housed.
The interior ministry confirmed his forcible return to Ethiopia early Wednesday after he was recaptured Sunday following a nearly 48-hour police manhunt.
– Murder charge –
Kebatu had served the first month of a one-year sentence in prison. Justice minister David Lammy has announced an independent investigation into his accidental release.
Junior minister Alex Norris told parliament “an operational decision was taken” to give the 38-year-old Kebatu the £500 payment because “the alternative was slower (and) more expensive”.
Later Wednesday, London police charged a 22-year-old man, reportedly an Afghan national, with murder and two counts of attempted murder following a knife attack on Monday.
Safi Dawood is accused of stabbing three people — including a 14-year-old boy — on a quiet residential street in Uxbridge, northwest London.
He had arrived in Britain in 2020 hidden in a lorry and was granted asylum and permission to remain permanently two years later, according to the interior ministry.
Also on Wednesday, a small boat migrant was jailed for at least 25 years for murdering a bank customer shortly after angrily complaining about his refused asylum application.
Somali national Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur, who arrived in Britain last year, used a kitchen knife in the attack at a Lloyds Bank branch in Derby, central England, in May.
– ‘Clear message’ –
Starmer swept to power in July 2024 vowing to “smash the gangs” facilitating the small boat journeys while forging more returns agreements with countries.
Announcing the latest deal with Vietnam to streamline and speed up removals, the UK leader said it sent “a clear message: if you come to the UK illegally, you will be swiftly returned”.
It follows similar agreements struck this year with Iraq, France and countries across the western Balkans.
Meanwhile in parliament, MPs raised concerns about the government’s plans to use two former army barracks to house asylum seekers as it seeks to end its use of hotels to accommodate migrants.
Starmer has said he wants to see asylum seeker hotels closed “as quickly as possible”, after previously pledging to do so by 2029.
The Cameron Barracks in Inverness, northeastern Scotland, and the Crowborough army camp in southeastern England have been earmarked to house around 900 asylum seekers in total by the end of the year.
Earlier this week, a parliamentary report found the interior minister, across different governments, had “squandered billions” of pounds on the flawed asylum housing system.
The use of former military camps has proved contentious in the past.
The Conservative government ousted last year was sued by asylum seekers housed in a former army camp, which courts determined had failed to meet minimum standards.
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