Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi took his own life and drowned within hours of attacking a woman and two young girls – despite a police manhunt for him lasting weeks.
Police began hunting for the 35-year-old pizza delivery worker after the incident in Clapham, south London, at 7.30pm on January 31. His body was found in the River Thames on February 19.
Today, a senior coroner ruled that Ezedi, whose body was found beneath Chelsea Bridge, died from suicide and drowned.
Mary Hassell told the inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court in east London: ‘The circumstances surrounding his death are clear in part.
‘The evidence of the Metropolitan Police Service is that he is likely to have entered the River Thames at Chelsea Bridge at approximately 11.30pm.
‘It seems likely to me that he drowned almost immediately and, although he was not found until February 19 2024, I will put his death as January 31.’
Ezedi arrived in Britain in the back of a lorry in 2016 and was twice refused asylum by 2018
Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi was given a Muslim funeral and burial, despite claiming to have converted to Christianity when he was granted asylum
Ruling out the possibility that Ezedi was pushed or fell into the water by accident, the coroner said: ‘Given the circumstances, including what happened in the day, I think that it is likely that he jumped into the water, and I think it is likely that he did so with the intention of ending his life.’
A huge manhunt saw detectives track Ezedi’s final movements along the river on CCTV.
It came after his former girlfriend was doused with a corrosive chemical in an attack on her and her daughters, aged eight and three, in Clapham.
His attack left the mother-of-two in a critical condition sedated in hospital with police revealing weeks later that she was still ‘too poorly to speak’ due to her ‘significant injuries’.Â
Police believe Ezedi, from the Newcastle area, threw a strong alkali substance over the woman, some of which also injured one of the children, and slammed the three-year-old’s head on the ground in the attack on January 31.
He then fled the scene and initially used his bank card to travel on the Tube before walking a route that broadly hugged the banks of the River Thames in the following hours.
CCTV footage put Ezedi on Chelsea Bridge at 11.24pm on January 31, the court heard.
The coroner said ‘it looks to me’ that Ezdei may have entered the River Thames between 11.28pm and 11.32pm. There is no footage of him walking off the bridge in either direction after that time.
Detective Sergeant Christine Clayton accepted that Ezedi was the prime suspect in the chemical attack.
A positive identification had been made that he was the keeper of a car that was at the scene, she told the court.
No final note was found after his death and he did not go online to research how to take his life, she added.
No members of Ezedi’s family attended the inquest, where a number of statements were also read out to try and piece together his final movements, actions and mindset.
Dr Katie Senior, a GP at a surgery in Newcastle where Ezedi was a patient, said he had only attended twice for poor sleep and eczema and he was not on medication.
She said his past history showed him as having depression when he was with a different GP and he did not have contact with mental health services.
Blood and urine tests were also used to see if Ezedi was intoxicated when he went into the water.
Toxicologist Matthew Christopher said there was a ‘low concentration’ of alcohol, below the legal limits, and drugs were not found.
In his statement, forensic pathologist Dr Robert Chapman described Ezedi as a thin man of short stature whose body showed ‘no evidence of external or internal injury’ but he was ‘significantly decomposed’.
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.
Footage showed Ezedi (circled) walking south on Westminster bridge on January 31
CCTV footage obtained by MailOnline showed Ezedi stumbling as he ran away from the scene of the attackÂ
Ezedi’s body was found near Tower Pier (pictured) on the River ThamesÂ
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’.
Ezedi’s brother Sebaghallah Ezedi, 22, also urged him to give himself up to the police.
Forensic police at the scene on January 31 night near Clapham following the attackÂ
Abdul Ezedi’s younger brother Sebaghallah Ezedi (pictured), 22, also urged him to give himself up to police
People who know Ezedi say he was ‘a good Muslim’ who bought Halal meat, avoided alcohol and planned to return home ‘to find a wife’ prior to the incident.
Authorities and leaders from the Church of England are now facing questions after it emerged Ezedi was allowed to stay in the UK following two failed asylum applications after converting to Christianity.
In 2020 or 2021, it is understood a priest vouched for his conversion and argued he was ‘wholly committed’ to his new religion – which aided his application.Â
The Church of England has been criticised in the past for aiding migrants from refugee backgrounds with their asylum claims if they convert.Â
The Ezedi case caused the former Tory Government to say it would review how asylum seekers were allowed to stay in Britain after converting to Christianity.
