Migrant sex offender arrested in London after release error

The Epping hotel migrant who sexually assaulted a woman and a 14-year-old girl has been recaptured after he was released from prison by mistake.

Hadush Kebatu, who was released in error from HMP Chelmsford, was arrested by Metropolitan Police officers in Finsbury Park, north London, on Sunday morning following a major manhunt.

He was supposed to have been sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported, but was mistakenly freed on Friday.

Essex Police said Kebatu, 41, boarded a London-bound train at Chelmsford at 12.41pm following the error.

He was spotted on CCTV inside a library in Dalston Square, east London, at 6pm that evening as the Metropolitan Police took over the hunt.

Kebatu was spotted at a bus stop by a member of the public, who called the police at 8.03am this morning. He was arrested at 8.19am for being unlawfully at large.

Jack Neill-Hall, 40, a dog-walker, saw him being led away by two female officers.

“He wasn’t struggling, he was walking quite calmly, a bit dejectedly, he was staring down, he had his hood up, but it was a calm situation,” he said. “It was a leisurely stroll out of the park with him with his hands cuffed but he wasn’t trying to get away.”

Following Kebatu’s arrest, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said he would be deported and said: “We must make sure this doesn’t happen again.” The government faces questions over the blunder.

In a statement on X/Twitter, he added: “Hadush Kebatu has been arrested and will be deported. “Officers have worked quickly and diligently to bring him back into custody. We have ordered an investigation to establish what went wrong.”

David Lammy, the justice secretary, said he had ordered “immediate strengthening of release checks” and a full investigation, and thanked police for their “swift and thorough work”.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said Kebatu would be deported “as quickly as possible”.

Marie Goldman, the Lib Dem MP for Chelmsford, called for a rapid national inquiry into the incident, saying: “It’s unacceptable that the safety of my constituents, and the people of London, was ever put at risk.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he remained “shocked that this inept Labour government let him out in the first place”, and that Mr Lammy and Ms Mahmood had “questions to answer”.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return to HMP Chelmsford in a “very confused” state “four or five times”, only to be turned away by prison staff and directed to the railway station.

A prison officer has been taken off duties to discharge prisoners while an investigation into the error takes place.

In September, Kebatu was jailed for 12 months and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order for five offences, with a judge warning he posed a “significant risk of reoffending”. He was also added to the sex offender register for 10 years.

His crimes sparked major protests and counterprotests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he was staying, and eventually at hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.

A three-day trial at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard that he told two teenagers he wanted to “have a baby with each of them” and attempted to kiss them. He then went on to put his hand on one of the girls’ thighs and stroke her hair during the incident on 7 July.

Kebatu, an Ethiopian national who had arrived in Britain on a small boat days earlier, was also found to have sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg, and telling her she was pretty.

Sentencing Kebatu last month, a judge told him his behaviour “really highlights the poor regard you must have for women”.

In court, Kebatu gave his date of birth through a translator as being in December 1986, making him 38 years old. However Essex Police have said their records show he was born in 1983, making him 41.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt, said: “This has been a diligent and fast-paced investigation led by specialist officers from the Metropolitan Police, supported by Essex Police and the British Transport Police. I am extremely grateful to the public for their support following our appeal, which assisted in locating Mr Kebatu.”

British journalist ‘abducted’ by ICE agents at San Francisco airport

Sami Hamdi, a British journalist and activist and outspoken critic of the Israeli war in Gaza, was arrested by U.S. immigration agents Sunday at San Francisco International Airport.

“Earlier this morning, ICE agents abducted British Muslim journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi at San Francisco Airport, apparently in response to his vocal criticism of the Israeli government during his ongoing speaking tour,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations civil rights group wrote on X.

Hamdi had spoken at a gala for the group on Saturday in California and was heading to Florida for another event prior to his arrest.

“We can confirm that Mr. Hamdi has not been deported and remains in custody,” CAIR added. “Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice.”

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Hamdi’s arrest.

“Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X. “It’s commonsense.”

The official cited a report from the advocacy group RAIR about Hamdi in the post announcing the arrest.

RAIR, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has previously described as an anti-Muslim hate group, accused Hamdi of endorsing terrorism and operating alongside foreign terror networks through his various speaking engagements.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a self-described “proud Islamophobe” and influential outside advisor to the Trump administration, also took credit for the arrest.

“I demanded that federal authorities inside the Trump administration treat Hamdi as the major National security threat that he is and I reported Sami Hamdi to federal immigration authorities over his documented support for Islamic terrorism,” she wrote on X.

Hamdi, who founded the outlet The International Interest and appears as a commentator on various mainstream news networks, has been a vocal critic of the Israeli war effort in Gaza, joining the scores of international observers who have deemed it a genocide.

He also celebrated the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as an important moment in the cause for Palestinian self-determination, and wrote in May post on X he stood against “racism, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, genocide, and war crimes.”

In August, the Trump administration vowed to review the status of all 55 million foreign nationals in the U.S. with a valid travel visa to root out “security threats” and anyone “supporting terrorists,” designations the White House has often applied to activists criticizing Israel.

The Trump administration has arrested and attempted to deport a variety of non-citizen critics of Israel, accusing them of supporting terrorism for actions ranging from leading student protests to writing op-eds critical of the U.S. ally.

Last month, a federal judge found that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem illegally chilled protected speech of pro-Palestinian students and faculty by threatening to revoke their visas and then arresting, detaining and deporting them — what the judge called a “full-throated assault on the First Amendment across the board under the cover of an unconstitutionally broad definition” of antisemitism.

Lando Norris boos from Mexican fans slammed by F1 pundits: ‘I hate it’

Lando Norris was surprisingly booed by the crowd after his victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday.

The McLaren driver, starting on pole, kept the lead at the start and then cruised to a 38-second victory over second-placed Charles Leclerc, with Max Verstappen completing the podium.

The result gives Norris the F1 world championship lead for the first time since April, overtaking Oscar Piastri in the standings after the Australian could only manage fifth. That being said, the gap between the McLaren drivers is just one point with four races to go.

Yet Norris, both as he was interviewed straight after the race in the famous stadium section and when he stepped onto the podium, was jeered by the vociferous Mexican crowd.

Sky F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick, a three-time W Series champion, slammed the boos, saying: “I hate it, I hate booing for anyone. That needs to be applauded, not booed.”

Ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok also insisted he “hates” booing by F1 fans at events.

On paper, there seems no obvious reason why Norris would be unpopular with the Mexican supporters, with 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve adding: “He’s not even fighting [Sergio] Perez, unless there’s a lot of Piastri fans in the grandstand.”

Norris, however, ignored the boos and was content enough with his first victory since July on a dominant weekend for the Briton.

“I love it!” Norris said, when applause drowned out the boos at the beginning of the interview.

“What a race – I just keep my eyes forward and focused on what I was doing. A pretty straightforward race for me, good launch and could go from there.

“This is awesome here. First win here in Mexico. A big thanks to all the fans.”

Then, Norris simply chuckled when the boos became audible. Regarding the title race, the 25-year-old added: “It’s one weekend at a time. I’m happy, focused on myself, keep my head down, it’s working at the minute.”

Norris is now one point ahead of Piastri and 36 ahead of Verstappen heading into the next race in Brazil on 8 November.

Asked in the press conference afterwards about the booing, Norris replied: “I don’t know why, to be honest. People can do what they want honestly, that is sport sometimes, I can’t stop laughing when I get booed,” Norris said.

“You don’t want it, I’d prefer if people cheer for me. Who knows? I just concentrate on doing my thing. If they want to continue they can.”

A local journalist put it to Norris that Mexican fans feel he has been aided by McLaren in his title fight with Piastri, after the Australian was ordered aside in Monza following a slow stop for his rival.

“Sure, if they want to think that they can do whatever they want,” he responded. “For us as a team we tried to do things fairly. Same with last year in Budapest – I let Oscar win the race he deserved to win.

“If they want to have the three points back, they can. Oscar deserved the win in Budapest, I deserved the win in Monza.”

Strictly fans ‘devastated’ over ‘biggest surprise’ elimination

Strictly viewers have said they are “devastated” after former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink became the fourth celebrity to be eliminated from the 2025 series tonight.

The Dutch sportsman, 53, and his professional partner Lauren Oakley were booted out of the competition on Sunday’s results show (26 October), after finding themselves in the bottom two with West End star Amber Davies and her partner Nikita Kuzmin.

In the dance off, Hasselbaink and Oakley performed their American Smooth to “Purple Rain” by Prince, and Davies and Kuzmin danced the Cha Cha Cha to “Break Free” by Ariana Grande.

Ultimately, the judges decided to save Davies and Kuzmin.

Hasselbaink’s early departure has come as a shock to viewers, given that he received his personal best score of 30 on Saturday’s episode (placing sixth on the leaderboard), and hadn’t appeared in the bottom two during the first weeks of the competition.

“Jimmy is what Strictly is meant to be about,” wrote one disappointed fan on X. “A celebrity with little or no professional dancing living in the moment and enjoying the competition. Such a shame Jimmy and Lauren were eliminated this early as they were so good .”

Another added: “I think if this weeks #strictly dance off has taught us anything, it’s VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE, or the BETTER DANCERS of the night… NOT who people encourage you to vote for. Because WTF is this dance off? NEITHER couple deserved to be there!!!”

A third said: “Jimmy and Lauren have been improving every single week and he’s been the biggest suprise of the series for me. He shouldn’t be in the dance off.”

“I was genuinely excited to see where Jimmy could go on his Strictly journey,” shared a fourth. “To have it end so prematurely is devastating. I think there was a possibility he could get to QF, SF or even the final. He had so much growth still in him. So angry. Robbed.”

The remaining 10 couples will return to the ballroom for next week’s Halloween special, on Saturday 1 November at 6.35pm, with the results show on Sunday 2 November at 7.15pm.

Woman told she was ‘too young’ to have bowel cancer visited GP 13 times

A woman who went to her GP 13 times plus A&E before being diagnosed with bowel cancer has said she was repeatedly told she was too young to have the disease.

Doctors told Milli Tanner, now 23, she probably had piles, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or period problems when in fact she had a potentially deadly tumour.

Ms Tanner was 19 when she first went to her GP in June 2021 with stomach pains, lower back pain and blood in her stool.

“They said that maybe I’d had a night out, had too much to drink, and that was irritating my stomach,” she told the PA news agency.

“But the bleeding carried on, as well as the abdominal pain … it was continuous.

“There were discussions at the GP, such as: could it be my periods? Could it be this, could it be that?

“And I said: ‘No, usually with a period, it’s maybe you have a week every month with a bit of abdominal pain, and you obviously bleed, and that’s that, but you don’t tend to lose blood through your back passage.’

“I continued going to the GP. They referred me for an ultrasound to check for gallstones but it wasn’t that, I had a session with a physiotherapist for the back pain and they said that they couldn’t see anything wrong at all.

“And then it was pretty much just put down to piles.

“By this point, I was tired as well all the time, and I was working full-time in a pub.

“They looked at that as, ‘that’s probably why you’re tired, you’re working long shifts and late nights’.”

Between June 2021 to November 2023, Ms Tanner said she had 13 appointments with a GP, went to A&E and had a phone call with NHS 111.

“I was also showing pictures of the amount of blood I was having – every time I went to the toilet I was bleeding,” she said.

“I said: ‘It’s not a little bit of blood on the tissue, this is clots of blood and filling the toilet bowl up.’”

At one point, during a visit to A&E, Ms Tanner was told to go back to her GP.

“I asked for a second opinion. The doctor come back into the room, said: ‘Right, I’ve just spoken to another A&E department. You’re just too young. Are you happy?’”

Ms Tanner eventually ordered herself a faecal immunochemical test (FIT) online, which looks for tiny traces of blood in the stool that could indicate bowel cancer.

The test was positive and Ms Tanner took her results to her GP.

However, it was several more months before the GP ordered a FIT test on the NHS.

Ms Tanner said: “The GP did put through a referral for a colonoscopy but I had a phone call to say it was a 60-week wait.

“They were following the NHS guidelines, and because I was under a certain age, it apparently couldn’t be put through as urgent until they did their own FIT test.

“Once the GP had ordered their own FIT test and it was positive, they were able to put it through as urgent.”

By this point, Ms Tanner said she knew she had bowel cancer.

“I knew it was going to be bowel cancer. I knew deep down exactly what it was,” she said.

“I’d done my own research. It was frustrating. I felt like I was going crazy.”

Ms Tanner, who works as a cleaner and is from Evesham, Worcestershire, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2023 following the urgent colonoscopy.

She said: “I saw the mass straight away. I saw it on the screen, and I just said: ‘What’s that?’”

“And the doctor said: ‘It’s a tumour.’

“I said: ‘Is it cancer?’ And she said: ‘I’m really sorry.’”

By this point, the cancer had spread to Ms Tanner’s lymph nodes and was stage III.

Ms Tanner decided to have her eggs collected owing to the risk cancer treatment will make her infertile.

She also had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, surgery, and has been fitted with a permanent stoma.

While she has been left perimenopausal, Ms Tanner said her most recent CT scan and colonoscopy showed no signs of cancer.

She now wants to raise awareness of cancer among young people.

She said: “It was such a massive issue and stress getting diagnosed. I had at least 20 health appointments, including 13 GP appointments and a visit to A&E where I was told I was too young to have cancer.

“I had always been maternal, so it was heartbreaking to learn I might be infertile.

“I’d say to people: you know your own body better than anybody else does.

“If it feels wrong, then keep going back until you find what is wrong.”

Amy Harding, director of services and impact at the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “Milli’s story, although extreme, is sadly not unique.

“We know from recent evidence and through the young people that we support, that far too often the path to a cancer diagnosis is challenging, traumatic and too long for young people who face delays to diagnosis.

“The National Cancer Plan for England has the potential to create the vital changes needed for young people with cancer.

“However, it must include strong and targeted measures, including empowering primary care professionals to spot the signs of cancer in young people.

“Although cancer is rare in this group, it shouldn’t be off the table just because of patient age.”

According to Cancer Research UK, rates of bowel cancer in teenagers and young people up to the age of 24 have increased by 74% since the early 1990s.

The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.

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UK to see end of cold snap after weekend snow warning

The UK is set for more cold weather and a sprinkling of snow after cold Arctic air brought wintry conditions over the weekend.

Temperatures have dipped into single digits thanks to a “cold northerly airflow this weekend” after Saturday and Sunday were predicted to be the “coldest pair of days so far this season”.

While Sunday morning got off to a chilly yet sunny start across central and eastern parts of the UK, clouds over Northern Ireland and Scotland are set to bring outbreaks of rain moving southeastward throughout the day, with some colder air moving across Scottish mountains, with the chance of a little snow.

Greg Dewhurst, a Met Office meteorologist, said: “We’ve had a cold northerly airflow across us so far this weekend, but all eyes to the northwest as this next weather system brings cloud and rain in from the northwest and sweeps it southeast across the country over the next 24 hours.

“It remains blustery into the beginning of next week, but signs of a bit more Atlantic weather coming in, allowing temperatures to rise a little further as the week goes on.

He continued: “But this morning a chilly start, particularly where we’ve got the sunny skies across central and eastern parts, but it quickly clouds over across Northern Ireland and Scotland, with outbreaks of rain moving in here and pushing slowly southeastward through the day.

“The rain could bump into some colder air across the Scottish mountains to give a little snow here, not unusual for the time of year, and the rain by the afternoon reaching the higher ground of Wales and the southwest of England, the southeast of England, generally staying cloudy, but perhaps thick enough by the end of the afternoon for some light and patchy rain developing here.

Temperatures are set to remain similar to Saturday’s, which ranged from eight to 12C, with cloud and wind coming in from the northwest as it gets colder into the evening.

The latest forecast comes after Storm Benjamin battered the UK this week with heavy downpours and winds over 70mph. Four yellow weather warnings were issued by the Met Office for Thursday, while over 40 flood alerts were in place in the morning.

Today:

A mainly dry, chilly but bright start with a few showers in the west. However cloud and rain will gradually move in from the northwest, pushing into eastern areas by the afternoon. Feeling cold once again and staying breezy.

Outbreaks of rain clearing followed by clear spells and scattered showers, with further bands of rain in the south. Milder than previous nights, but still windy and cold in Scotland.

Monday:

Sunny spells and a scattering of showers to start. These easing with sunny spells through the afternoon, but cloud increasing in the west with rain arriving by the evening. Breezy.

Tuesday to Thursday:

Remaining changeable with some further rain or showers at times, especially in the northwest. Always driest and brightest towards the southeast. Temperatures recovering to near average for most.

Tuberculosis cases are surging: Symptoms and advice you need to know

Tuberculosis (TB) infections are surging in England, figures show, as officials urge healthcare providers to look out for symptoms.

Cases of the infectious bacterial disease increased by almost 14 per cent year on year in 2024 – the largest annual increase since national surveillance began. Officials recorded 5,490 TB notifications, up from 4,831 in 2023, according to the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA).

Provisional data shows cases of the potentially fatal disease increased by a further 3.9 per cent in the first half of 2025.

It follows a 10.6 per cent surge in cases in 2023, reversing a long-term downward trend in TB cases since previous highs in 2012.

The figures mean England is not on track to meet World Health Organisation targets to mostly eliminate TB by 2035, which aim to reduce patients suffering from TB by 90 per cent.

TB mainly affects the lungs, but it can affect any part of the body, including lymph nodes, bones and the brain, causing meningitis. It is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Although it is a potentially deadly condition, it can be cured if it’s diagnosed early and treated with the right combination of specific antibiotics.

TB symptoms include a cough that lasts more than three weeks, high temperatures, drenching night sweats, loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss. It can sometimes be confused with flu or Covid-19.

Although it is a potentially fatal condition in serious cases, it can be cured with antibiotics, but early detection is important.

In a warning posted on their website earlier this year, the UKHSA urged healthcare providers to keep communities aware of key symptoms, including a cough with mucus which lasts several weeks.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. It is spread predominantly through coughing and sneezing.

It remains most common in urban areas, including London. However, the fast increases were also seen in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber and the south west.

Individuals born outside of the UK accounted for eight in ten TB notifications in England last year, figures show.

There is also a clear link with social deprivation and inequality, with those who experience homelessness, drug and alcohol dependence or in contact with the criminal justice system at higher risk.

Those living in the most deprived areas of England experienced five times the rate of infections of those the most affluent regions, UKHSA figures show.