Chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi believed to be dead, police say

Police hunting the Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi say they believe he is dead.

Scotland Yard said Ezedi’s body had not been found but he was last seen close to the River Thames.

Officers had been looking for the 35-year-old since last Wednesday when he is suspected of using a strong alkaline substance in an attack on a mother and her daughters aged three and eight. The mother, 31, was left badly injured.

She is believed to have been in a relationship with Ezedi, which had broken down.

Ezedi has been missing since the attack in Clapham, south London, on 31 January, with police appealing to the public to call 999 if they saw him and describing him as highly dangerous.

Scotland Yard had earlier appealed for Ezedi – who was suspected to have been wounded in the attack and bore “significant injuries to the right side of his face” – to hand himself in. He is believed to have driven from his home in Newcastle to London early on the morning of 31 January, carrying the chemicals he would allegedly use hours later.

The woman remained “very poorly” and sedated in hospital on Friday, with detectives saying her injuries were thought to be “life-changing”. Her children, aged three and eight, are not thought to be as severely injured as first feared.

CCTV received by detectives showed Ezedi walking by the Thames about two hours after the attack, which happened just before 7.30pm on the evening of Wednesday 31 January.

More than 100 officers were involved in the huge hunt for Ezedi, who came to Britain from Afghanistan in 2016 hidden in a lorry.

Police raided an address linked to Ezedi in Newcastle where chemical canisters were found.

He was convicted in 2018 of a sexual offence but was later granted asylum after an appeal tribunal ruled in his favour.

The woman left injured had also come to the UK as an asylum seeker.

Police had said on Monday that their two main theories were that Ezedi was either dead or being harboured from capture.

More details soon …