LONDON — British police said Saturday they were scouring hours of closed-circuit TV recordings to find an asylum-seeker sentenced for sexual assault who was mistakenly released from prison.

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was "last seen in the London area," Essex Police said Saturday, adding that officers from three separate forces were working together in the investigation.

Kebatu came to national attention after his case triggered a wave of anti-migrant protests in London and other cities in recent months.

He was sentenced in September to 12 months in prison for five offenses, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in July in Epping, on the outskirts of London, just over a week after he had arrived in England by boat.

Authorities said they were alerted

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