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An asylum seeker who was accidentally released from prison where he was serving time for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl has been spotted boarding a London-bound train, Essex Police said.

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, who had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, was jailed for 12 months in September. The Sun first reported on Friday that he was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported but was freed by mistake.

A statement from Essex Police said that it had officers "working to urgently locate and detain him" after he was seen to catch a train at Chelmsford railway station.

It said: "We were informed by the prison service at 12.57pm today (Friday 24 October) of an error this morning surrounding the release of an ind

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