What happened last week is nothing short of a disgrace, a total, unforgivable failure of Britain’s so-called justice system.
A convicted sex offender, Hadush Kabatu, was released early from HMP Chelmsford, the very same man who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.
And while he was walking free, on the loose for hours, no one thought to tell the victim or her family: no call, no warning, no protection. The family only found out because I rang the girl’s father myself around half past four on Friday.
That’s not justice, that’s a system that’s lost all sense of duty and decency.
This is a man, a judge said, who posed a clear risk to women and girls. Yet he was let out without anyone even bothering to tell the people whose lives he’s already shattered.
Imagine being that young girl, 14 years old, carrying the trauma of what happened, and knowing that the man who attacked you could be back in the same area, completely unsupervised, while you and your family were left completely unprotected.
Kabatu could have travelled back to Epping. He could have been outside her school, her home, her town. The idea that she could have bumped into him, unaware that he was even free, is sickening.
This is the kind of bureaucratic, careless nonsense that makes ordinary people lose faith in the police, the prisons, and the so-called “victim support” network that’s supposed to keep families safe.
I had to tell the victim's father? The Epping migrant's release is a snapshot of wider collapse - Adam Brooks
|MET POLICE
Instead, victims are treated like an afterthought, while offenders are cushioned by paperwork, policy, and excuse after excuse.
Let’s be honest here, this isn’t a one-off mistake. It’s a pattern. Our police are drowning in red tape, our prisons are full to bursting, and communication between agencies is a joke.
Dangerous individuals are being released early to ease overcrowding, while victims get platitudes and silence. That’s not a justice system, that’s a management failure.
And let’s not forget where this man came from, a hotel that’s been a magnet for trouble ever since it was repurposed to house people the system can’t properly check or manage.
Since then, locals have dealt with assaults, arson attempts, theft, harassment, and even people defecating on the common.
The community’s had enough. People feel unsafe, unheard, and abandoned by a government that refuses to take responsibility.
Hotels like that should never be placed next to schools or in small, quiet towns. It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s unfair to both the residents and the local community who have to live with the consequences.
The release of Kabatu isn’t just a failure of one prison or one police force. It’s a snapshot of a wider collapse in accountability.
The people in charge are quick to talk about rehabilitation, inclusion, and “lessons learned”, but what about protection?
What about the victims? What about the families who live in fear while the state looks the other way?
I shouldn’t have to be the one informing a family that a convicted attacker is on the loose. The system should have done its job. The fact that it didn’t is proof that this country’s priorities are upside down.
We’re supposed to protect the innocent, not the guilty. Yet in modern Britain, it’s the other way around.
It’s time for real accountability, not press releases, not excuses, and not another round of empty apologies. Someone needs to answer for this.
Because next time, it could be too late. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
More From GB News