Steve Reed said he shares the “frustration and fury” of the family of a girl who was sexually assaulted by Hadush Kebatu after his mistaken release from prison.
The Communities Secretary said he did not know whether anyone from Government had spoken to the family.
Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken with the family, Mr Reed told Times Radio: “I don’t know the answer to that, but I completely share their frustration and fury at what’s happened.
“My jaw was on the floor like everyone else’s when I heard that he had been released in the way that he had been. He shouldn’t even be our country, let alone committing the kind of acts that he carried out.
“Now I want to pay tribute to the police who have apprehended him, thank goodness, very, very quickly, and the public whose vigilance helped to tip off the police where to identify him.
“And people should be reassured that he will now be deported this week, but it’s very worrying that this individual was released, apparently by accident, and he’s not the only one, so the Ministry of Justice has ordered the full investigation there.
“(An) officer has been suspended, and David Lammy, who’s the Justice Secretary, will be announcing a strengthened series of checks in Parliament later today to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”
Asked whether anyone from Government had, he said he did not know. “The facts are, we inherited a completely broken justice system, and we’re working at pace to fix it.”















