REVEALED: Number of people wrongly released from prison each year as Epping migrant hotel sex attacker walks free in disastrous mishap

The report by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) noted that those released in error has doubled in the previous year, up from 115.

HMPPS noted in the report that the releases in error "remain infrequent" and believes the rise is linked to changes in the law.

Thousands of inmates have been freed early since then in a bid to reduce overcrowding in Britain's jails.

Some 262 were released in error when the early release scheme began, HMPPS said, because of an issue with a repealed breach of restraining order offence.

The report, published this summer, stated that prisoners have since been rearrested and returned to custody.

HMPPS said year-on-year charges in the number of prisoners released in error "should be considered in the context of the number of releases in the same time period and changes in the operational environment".

Criminals have been going untagged for months, though following their releases from prisons in England and Wales, amid "chaos" in the system.

Dispatches went undercover at the Electric Monitoring Service (EMS), who are managed by Serco as part of its £51million a year deal with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to tag and monitor offenders.

One criminal was accused of taking off her tag to go on holiday and boasting about it to almost 200,000 TikTok followers online.

Another claimed they had ripped off their tag and could do whatever they wanted.

John Potter, a murderer, was revealed to have gone without a tag for at least two months after he claimed his swollen legs meant he could not have an alcohol-monitoring device fitted.

GB News uncovered violent drug dealer Elliot Riley, who still remains on the run 12 months after escaping from HMP Kirkham.

Riley escaped from the Category D prison when GB News was covering the early release of convicts last October.

The mistakes were made as part of the Government's early release scheme, under which Labour insisted all prisoners let out were tagged within 53 days.

Kebatu's release is arguably the biggest embarrassment for the police, with local MP describing the situation as a "cock-up".

Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman said "huge questions [need] to be answered".

She said: "I don't know how you could describe it any other way. I've said this multiple times now, but my mind is blown by how this could possibly happen."

She noted that HMP Chelmsford, where Kebatu was imprisoned, is a remand prison, meaning it should be "used to having prisoners coming and going".

The Liberal Democrat MP continued: "I think that's quite important to understand about Chelmsford and why it's an even bigger cock-up than we might even think.

"All prisons are used to having prisoners coming and going. But when it's a remand prison, your prisoners come and go with even more frequency. I understand that they have suspended a member of staff. I think it's far bigger than a member of staff.

"How could it possibly just be the responsibility of one single member of staff to decide whether to release or not a prisoner, or how to release a prisoner. So, I think there's huge questions to be answered about this."