Epping migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu has claimed he told police he was ‘a wanted man’ and tried to hand himself in – but they ignored him.

Kebatu was freed from HMP Chelmsford in error on Friday, four weeks after he was sentenced for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Essex while being housed at an asylum seeker hotel.

He had been awaiting transfer to an immigration detention centre ahead of his planned deportation back to Ethiopia, but bungling prison staff released him instead.

In his first interview since returning home, the 38-year-old insisted he took several measures to return to prison – something which police dispute. 

Kebatu told Sky News: ‘Saturday I get a police. Police I am wanted man, I arrested, I give you my hand (sic).

‘Please, help me, where is police station (sic). He ignored me, he drive (sic).’

Kebatu claimed to have approached officers and explained he had been mistakenly released, saying he told them: ‘You know me, my image. I am Hadush Kebatu – I am a national of Ethiopia – please, I was the mistake release, please help me (sic).’

The Metropolitan Police dispute Kebatu’s claims, saying there was ‘no evidence’ that he approached officers on Saturday morning.

In a statement, the force said: ‘Kebatu’s actions on the morning of his arrest were more like those of someone trying to avoid officers, not trying to hand himself in.’

Yesterday, it emerged Kebatu was paid £500 to speed up his deportation back to Ethiopia after he threatened to disrupt the flight. 

The debacle has left Labour facing fresh questions about its handling of the migrant crisis. 

Kebatu was handed a ‘discretionary’ payment of £500 by Home Office officials because of his threats to ‘disrupt’ the removals flight, sources said.

It is understood that even though his original trial heard it was his ‘firm wish’ to return to Ethiopia, his compliance with immigration officials deteriorated yesterday.

He threatened to launch a legal challenge against his removal and even said he was considering lodging a new asylum claim with the Home Office. 

After indicating he would go quietly in exchange for the cash, Kebatu was forcibly deported from Britain by a team of five security escorts.

Speaking on Thursday, Policing Minister Sarah Jones said giving cash to people to get them out of the country was not ‘a new thing’.

It would have cost thousands of pounds to rebook flights and have him escorted again by five people, she told LBC.

‘So the choice was £500 versus £10,000 and I think in terms of use of taxpayers’ money, that was the right decision to make,’ she said.

She could not say why Kebatu needed five escorts.

‘He’s obviously a nasty criminal. We wanted out of the country, and we wanted to make sure he left,’ she said.

She later added: ‘I think there has always been a system where some payments are sometimes made in order to get people on the planes and get them out of the country. I don’t think that is a new thing.’

Justice Secretary David Lammy has since launched an independent investigation into the incident, but put ‘human error’ at the heart of the blunder.

Ms Jones said she expected the inquiry would report back ‘within a few months max’.

Kebatu should have been transferred to a deportation centre last week, but clueless prison officers repeatedly told him to leave and get on a train to London instead. 

His wrongful release sparked a nationwide manhunt until he was finally caught after three days on the run.

He was filmed speaking to members of the public in Chelmsford town centre on the day of his release, before boarding a 12.41pm train to Stratford, east London.

CCTV showed Kebatu in the Dalston area of Hackney just before 8pm on Friday.

He was also picked up at a library in Dalston Square around two hours earlier, wearing a prison grey tracksuit while clutching a white tote bag with avocados on it.

His movements on Saturday are unclear but the Met Police confirmed he was finally caught in Finsbury Park on Sunday morning.

In a picture of his arrest, Kebatu – who had access to funds – was seen wearing jeans, a puffer jacket and a hood over his head, having managed to change out of his prison tracksuit. Footage showed him being bundled into the back of a police van. 

It comes amid a backlash against efforts to tackle illegal migration after a man who was deported under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme with France reappeared on UK shores having crossed the Channel again in a small boat.

Conservative MP for Epping Forest, Neil Hudson, called Kebatu’s release a ‘catastrophic mistake’ which had ‘deeply distressed, upset and angered’ the whole community, adding that ‘accountability must go right to the top’.