Police hunting for chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi have recovered his body from the Thames – as it was revealed his savage assault had left a mother blind in one eye.
The Afghan-born asylum seeker was wanted for attacking his former lover and her two young children in Clapham, south London, where he doused them in alkaline.
The convicted sex offender carried out his horrific onslaught on January 31 before fleeing, having appeared to have also burnt his own face in the assault. He was last seen alive on CCTV later that evening leaning over London’s Chelsea Bridge.
Yesterday, a passing boat reported seeing a body in the water near Tower Pier – four miles from Ezedi’s last known position. Police have since recovered the remains, which they believe to be the 35-year-old’s.
Investigators said the identification was based on ‘distinctive clothing’ he was wearing at the time of the attack and the ‘property found on his body’.
His former girlfriend, a mother-of-two who was doused with a corrosive chemical thought to be oven cleaner in a harrowing attack on her and her young children, is now no longer under sedation in hospital. But friends say she has been left blinded.
‘We know mum’s lost her sight in one eye, and we’re praying that it returns fully in the other,’ they said in a statement today, adding she was still in ‘critical care’ and ‘desperate to be reunited with her girls’.
JANUARY 31: That last CCTV image of Clapham acid attack suspect Abdul Ezedi (pictured) who is believed to have been found dead in the River Thames
FEBRUARY 1: The Metropolitan Police released this photo of Ezedi as they continued their hunt
Ezedi’s body was found near Tower Pier (pictured) on the River Thames on Thursday afternoon
The body was recovered by the Met’s Marine Policing Unit and has been viewed by detectives working on the investigation.
Commander Jon Savell said: ‘Based on the distinctive clothing he was wearing at the time of the attack and property found on his body, we strongly believe we have recovered the body of Ezedi.
‘We have been in contact with his family to pass on the news.
‘As you may expect after a considerable period of time in the strong current of the Thames, formal identification is not possible visually, nor from fingerprints. We will work with the coroner on other ways to complete formal identification, such as DNA testing and dental records. That may take some time.
‘Our enquiries continue into the attack. I am pleased to say the condition of the 31-year-old woman has improved. She remains in hospital but she is in a stable condition and no longer sedated. We have still not been able to speak to her but hope to as soon as she is well enough.
‘Again, I thank all those hundreds of members of the public who called us with information during the hunt for Ezedi. The public support for our investigation was overwhelming and every piece of information provided was followed up.’
Ezedi had not been seen since he allegedly poured the chemical on the woman and her two children, aged three and eight.
The mother-of-two was left in a critical condition sedated in hospital with police revealing she is still ‘too poorly to speak’ due to her ‘significant injuries’.
Her daughters, aged eight and three, were discharged from hospital after doctors confirmed their injuries were less severe than first thought.
In a fresh statement today, friends of the woman said she was ‘determined to get out of hospital as quickly as possible’.
More than £44,000 has been raised so far for the woman and her two children in the wake of the horror attack.
‘Physically and mentally, there is a very, very long road ahead for her and the girls,’ friends added in their statement.
‘Like so many of us, the family were really struggling to make ends meet before the attack, so we just want their recovery to not be compounded by financial fears.
‘We know times are tough and the level of support so far means the world. Every donation helps, and sends a powerful message against this evil attack.
‘We kindly ask anyone reading this to consider donating even the cost of a coffee to show Mum and the girls that the wider community has their back and they can feel safe again.’
Following the attack, which took place on a leafy street in south west London, Ezedi fled the scene, with his movements on that night being captured on CCTV across the capital.
The chemical attacker was seen in Caledonian Road, King’s Cross Station, Victoria Station and Tower Hill tube station in the four hour period after the attack on Lesser Avenue.
The Met said he then walked more than four miles ‘with purpose’ from the Tower Hill area to Chelsea Bridge. He entered Battersea Park for a brief period before crossing back over the bridge.
Ezedi was last seen alive at 11.27pm on January 31 at Chelsea Bridge. The suspect was never seen leaving the bridge area.
In a briefing at Scotland Yard earlier this month, Commander Savell said: ‘We have spent the last 24 hours meticulously following the CCTV, and it’s our main working hypothesis that he’s now gone into the water.
‘We have looked at all of the available cameras and angles, and with the assistance of Transport for London and CCTV from buses that were travelling over the bridge at the relevant time and there is no sighting of him coming off the bridge.’
When asked if police were willing to say that Ezedi was dead, Detective Superintendent Rick Sewart said: ‘I’m prepared to say that he’s gone into the water and if he’s gone into the water then that’s the most probable outcome.’
The woman had been in a relationship with Ezedi, with the breakdown of the relationship a possible motive for the attack.
Ezedi (circled) was last pictured near Chelsea Bridge in a black jacket following the attack
A police boat is seen on the Thames on February 10 as officers search for the body of Ezedi
CCTV footage shows Abdul Ezedi shortly after the attack on January 31. In the images, he appears to have a large wound to his face, believed to have been a chemical burn
Other footage shows Ezedi (circled) walking south on Westminster bridge on January 31
The nation-wide hunt for Ezedi saw two homes raided in Newcastle in the early hours.
The focus in the hunt for Ezedi switched to the River Thames on Friday, February 9, when detectives revealed that they believed he went into the water some four hours after the alkaline attack nine days earlier.
Officers from the Marine Policing Unit carried out several low tide searches in the area surrounding Chelsea Bridge in the following days.
They had continued routine searches as part of their daily work before the body was recovered yesterday.
Ezedi came to the UK hidden in a lorry in 2016, and was turned down twice for asylum before successfully appealing against the Home Office rejection by claiming he had converted to Christianity.
He was convicted of two sexual offences in 2018 but was allowed to stay in the UK because his crimes were not serious enough to meet the threshold for deportation.
A tribunal judge is understood to have ruled in favour of his asylum claim in 2020 after a retired Baptist church minister confirmed he had converted to Christianity, reportedly describing Ezedi as ‘wholly committed’ to his new religion.
During the manhunt, relatives of the pizza shop worker had appealed for him to turn himself in.
One family member described Ezedi as a ‘quiet’ and ‘caring’ person when they were growing up in Afghanistan. He believes the attack is out of character.
Ezedi was convicted of a sexual assault/exposure offence at Newcastle Crown Court in 2018 and handed a suspended sentence and an unpaid work order, which was completed two years later. He was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
He was later granted asylum after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity – despite friends revealing he was a ‘good Muslim’.
Referencing the sex offence, the close relative said he didn’t ‘believe he would do that kind of thing’.
It comes after Ezedi’s brother Sebaghallah Ezedi, 22, also urged him to give himself up to police.
Police revealed the motive behind the ‘brutal’ attack appears to be the breakdown of a relationship. He is seen with injuries here in a Tesco supermarket after the attack
Forensic police at the scene on January 31 night near Clapham following the attack
Around 500 people across the county called police with information about Ezedi and his possible whereabouts since the incident happened.
Nick Aldworth a former national counter-terrorism co-ordinator with 36 years’ experience in the police and military, said it was is ‘not unlikely’ Ezedi could have taken his own life.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think if we’ve not seen or heard from him in the the last couple of days, which appears to be the case, he’s gone to ground, possibly supported by somebody…
‘Or – it’s not unlikely or improbable – that he may have taken his own life. There is therefore a body to be found somewhere.’
Police said Ezedi left Newcastle in the early hours of January 31 and travelled south to London and was in the Tooting area by around 6.30am.
His vehicle was seen again in Croydon, south London, at around 4.30pm and by around 7pm he was in Streatham.
Ezedi allegedly threw the younger child to the ground during the attack at 7.25pm, before attempting to drive away from the scene, crashing into a stationary vehicle and fleeing on foot.
Minutes later he boarded a Tube train at Clapham South Underground station, and by 8pm he was at King’s Cross Tube station.
Ezedi was caught on CCTV at Tesco Express at 8.42pm before he caught a Victoria Line train south at King’s Cross at 9pm. 16 minutes later he left Victoria on an eastbound District Line train.
At 9.33pm, Ezedi is seen leaving Tower Hill station and an hour later CCTV has him heading south on Westminster Bridge. At 11pm, he was spotted heading north across Vauxhall Bridge.
And at 11.25, police released CCTV of Ezedi entering Battersea Park before crossing Chelsea Bridge. He was not seen leaving after this.
Police say three members of the public who came to the aid of the family during the attack, two aged in their 30s and one in her 50s, have all been discharged from hospital with minor burns.
Commander Savell thanked all the public for their support in the investigation.