Clapham attack: New Abdul Ezedi CCTV image released as police admit he could be dead – latest

Fugitive Abdul Ezedi could die from his injuries if left untreated as police revealed a possible motive for the chemical attack that left a woman and two children injured last week.

The Metropolitan Police warned that the facial injuries suffered by Abdul Ezedi, 35, in the attack in Clapham, south London, could be fatal.

Commander Jon Savell, from the Met, added that the breakdown of the relationship between Ezedi and the 31-year-old woman could have been a motive for the attack.

CCTV shows Clapham attack suspect Abdul Ezedi in a Tesco shop on Caledonian Road, London, on Wednesday 31 January.

Metropolitan Police officers have been searching for the 35-year-old from Newcastle since Wednesday after a 31-year-old mother, believed to be known to Ezedi, was attacked with a “very strong concentrated corrosive.”

She sustained injuries thought to be “life-changing”. Her daughters were also hurt but their injuries are “not likely to be life-changing”.

The Metropolitan Police have released recent CCTV images of Abdul Ezedi, including footage of the Clapham chemical attack suspect walking towards Victoria Embankment on Wednesday evening.

The footage, released on Tuesday, 6 February, shows Ezedi passing the Unilever building and heading towards Victoria Embankment at 10.04pm.

“Our teams have been working tirelessly through the night and into today to pinpoint Ezedi’s latest movements and we are now able to release the latest images and footage of him,” Commander Jon Savell said at the time.

The Met warned that anyone hiding or assisting Ezedi is a criminal action, as a 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender on Monday.

A survivor of an acid attack has called on the government to step up its efforts in tackling attacks after a mother was injured by a corrosive alkaline substance in Clapham on Wednesday, 31 January.

Andreas Christopheros, 38, was left blind in one eye after sulphuric acid was thrown on him in 2014.

It comes as a manhunt for alkali attack suspect Abdul Ezedi, 35, from Newcastle, continues as police renewed their appeal for the public’s help finding him.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Christopheros urged the government to start “dealing with acid crime” recognising its severity.

The first victim of the suspected Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi has spoken of her desire to see him caught as the search for the Met’s most wanted enters its seventh day.

Ezedi was accused of grabbing the bottom of a woman without her consent in 2017, as well as committing a sex attack that same year, according to court documents.

The victim told the Sun newspaper Ezedi should not have been allowed to remain in the UK.

A fugitive was reportedly in a relationship with the mother he is accused of attacking with chemicals in south London on Wednesday, a relative has said.

The relative, who has not been named, said they would “bring in” 35-year-old suspect Abdul Ezedi themselves and expressed concern about his wellbeing.

Ezedi fled Clapham after allegedly dousing a woman, 31, and her two children aged three and eight, in an alkaline substance which left the mother in a serious condition with life-changing injuries.

Rishi Sunak insisted he had reformed the asylum system “every which way I can” amid questions over how a sex offender suspected of carrying out a chemical attack remained in the UK.

The Government had already taken action to stop people trying to “game the system”, Downing Street said, as pressure mounted on ministers to explain how Abdul Ezedi was allowed to stay in the country years after being convicted of sexual assault and exposure.

Home Secretary James Cleverly is understood to have asked for the facts of Ezedi’s case as he examines whether there are flaws in the asylum system and considers whether changes to the rules need to be made.

A different victim of fugitive Abdul Ezedi has said he is a “danger to women” and slammed the criminal justice system for not deporting him.

The woman, who cannot be named, befriended Ezedi but was soon sexually assaulted by him after he exposed himself and pulled her trousers down in 2017.

Ezedi pleaded guilty and got 45 weeks in jail, suspended for two years. He had two asylum bids refused but a third was successful after a priest gave him a character reference when he “converted” to Christianity.

“If he’d been jailed for attacking me then surely he would have been deported. But the failings didn’t end there because someone from a church gave him a reference so he could gain asylum.

“Who in their right mind thought that a good idea when he was on the Sex Offender Register? The world is a mess. He’s a danger to women. That’s obvious to everyone,” the woman told The Sun.