A video shared online on Friday appears to show the offender walking freely on a crowded street

The migrant who sparked widespread protests across the UK earlier this year after sexually assaulting a child near an asylum hotel was mistakenly released from prison, triggering a manhunt and public backlash.

Hadush Kebatu, 41, was convicted on two counts of sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl and a woman, and other charges, and sentenced to 12 months in prison last month. His attacks sparked nationwide protests amid mounting public backlash to the UK's ongoing migrant influx crisis.

After a video of Kebatu free on a busy street in the town of Chelmsford emerged on Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer acknowledged that he was set loose in error.

"The mistaken release at His Majesty's Prison (HMP) Chelmsford is totally unacceptable," he wrote on X a few hours after the news broke.

"The police are working urgently to track him down," he added.

The prison officer responsible for the convict's release has been removed from any duties related to discharging prisoners, according to the Guardian.

The incident has led to a rise in tensions in Epping, where Kebatu committed his crimes, resulting in nationwide riots earlier this year. Angry locals have gathered outside of the town's migrant hotel on Friday, demanding that asylum seekers be deported.

Mounting anti-immigration sentiment has repeatedly spilled over into mass protests in the UK in recent months, amid the country's influx of undocumented arrivals. Nearly 600 migrants have entered the country via small boats in the last week alone, according to government data.

Neighboring Ireland was rocked by a riot earlier this week, following the alleged rape of a ten-year-old girl near a migrant hotel.