Military barracks to be used to house asylum seekers

The Home Office has confirmed that hundreds of migrants will be moved to military sites as the government tries to stop the use of asylum hotels.

About 900 men will be temporarily based at Cameron Barracks in Inverness, and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels. This government will close every asylum hotel.

“Work is well under way, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.”

Industrial sites, temporary facilities and disused accommodation are also being considered as officials step up work to find alternatives.

The plans – first mooted by the defence secretary last month – have been confirmed ahead of the expected deportation of an asylum seeker who was accidentally released while serving a sentence for sexual offences.

Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday – sparking a manhunt – with the Metropolitan Police arresting him in Finsbury Park on Sunday.

Justice Secretary David Lammy has confirmed there will be an independent investigation into what happened and said “human error” was to blame for the incident.

Pressure on jail staff ‘intolerable’

But the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has warned it will “not accept any scapegoating of staff” – and claims it has highlighted “a severe lack of training” for at least a decade.

Mark Fairhurst, the union’s national chair, said: “The pressure on staff is intolerable, and this will inevitably lead to mistakes.

“These issues should have been addressed a long time ago, but as usual, our employer waits for a headline and then acts.”

The POA has warned this could happen again in the future because prisons are understaffed and overcrowded.

One member of staff at HMP Chelmsford has been suspended pending an investigation, with some MPs calling for the prison’s governor to step down if they are found at fault.

Kebatu was found guilty in September of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping – about a week after he arrived in the UK on a small boat.

He had been staying at The Bell Hotel, which was being used to accommodate asylum seekers, and the case sparked weeks of protests over the summer.

‘Urgent review’ ordered

In the Commons yesterday, Mr Lammy said he was “livid” on behalf of Kebatu’s victims – and vowed he would be deported back to Ethiopia “as quickly as possible”.

He dismissed Conservative MPs who asked whether he would resign over the issue, describing this as a “ridiculous question”.

The deputy prime minister added he has ordered an “urgent review” into the checks that take place when an offender is freed, and new safeguards have been added.

From now on, foreign criminals facing deportation will only be able to be released when a duty governor is physically present.

But with a prison service source telling Sky’s Mollie Malone that these checks could take staff an extra 30 to 40 minutes, former governor Pia Sinha has warned: “The solution is not adding more administrative burden.”

Data shows 262 prisoners in England and Wales were released in error in the 12 months to March 2025 – a 128% increase on the previous year.