The UK government said Wednesday it had forcibly deported an Ethiopian migrant and convicted sex offender, giving him £500 ($661) to leave, as it came under fire on multiple fronts over immigration.

The interior ministry said Hadush Kebatu was back in Ethiopia early Wednesday after an embarrassing blunder when he was released from a UK prison by mistake last week.

“It is right that he has been removed. He was forcibly deported,” junior minister Alex Norris told parliament.

But he acknowledged the man, who was accompanied by a five-strong team of escorts on the plane late Tuesday, had kicked up a fuss and made “very real threats to disrupt the flight”.

So “an operational decision was taken to provide a £500 payment” to Kebatu, 38, who had demanded £1,500 to leave under a government migr

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