Tory ex-minister calls for review of how chemical assault suspect gained asylum

A former immigration minister has called on the home secretary to conduct a “detailed review” of how a refugee who is being hunted over a corrosive substance attack was granted asylum.

Robert Jenrick, who quit the government last year after pushing for a tougher approach to the Rwanda deportation plan, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the case raised “very serious concerns”.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed the suspect, Abdul Ezedi, was convicted of sexual assault and exposure in 2018.

Ezedi, 35, from the Newcastle area, is on the run after an attack in south London on Wednesday left a girl and her mother with potentially life-changing injuries.

Ezedi, reportedly from Afghanistan, was granted asylum after two failed attempts and after the 2018 convictions. He is understood to have been allowed to stay in the country after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity.

Jenrick told the BBC: “It appears, from what little we know of this case, that this is an individual whose asylum or humanitarian protection in the UK was granted by a tribunal, so probably by a judge rather than Home Office officials, despite the fact that he had been convicted of a sexual offence and on the basis of evidence which, we shall have to see, may well be spurious or insubstantial, such as this suggestion that he had converted to Christianity.

“I think we need to investigate the particular circumstances. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, and I would expect the home secretary to conduct a detailed review of what has happened and what may have gone seriously wrong in this case, and to put that information in the public domain, such is the public interest.”

Ezedi pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual assault and one of exposure, the CPS said. He was sentenced at Newcastle crown court on 9 January 2018 to a nine-week jail term suspended for two years for the sexual assault. For the exposure he was given 36 weeks’ imprisonment to be served consecutively, which was also suspended for two years.

Emergency services were called to Lessar Avenue, in Clapham, at about 7.25pm on Wednesday after a man doused the 31-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged three and eight, with what detectives called an alkaline substance. The victims were taken to hospital, along with passersby and police officers who were injured when they tried to help.

The family were in a stable condition in hospital on Thursday afternoon.

The Metropolitan police have alerted other forces in case Ezedi tries to flee London. Supt Gabriel Cameron said Ezedi was last seen in the Caledonian Road area of north London, and was believed to have travelled from the north-east of England to carry out the attack.

Detectives shared a new photo of Abdul Ezedi on Thursday, calling him “dangerous” and highlighting the maimed right side of his face while appealing for witnesses to come forward.