£20K TO FIND HIM
Reward offered in hunt for suspect in horror chemical attack on woman and kids
POLICE have offered a £20,000 reward as they continue their hunt for suspected chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi.
The National Crime Agency has been drafted in to help in the search after the incident on Wednesday, in which a woman and her two daughters, aged eight and three, were injured.
Officers from the NCA are focusing on whether Ezedi, 35, may be receiving help from a criminal gang to evade capture.
The Met said the adult victim was sedated on Friday, having suffered lifechanging injuries. The injuries to her daughters are not thought to be life-changing.
Ezedi is understood to have claimed asylum after arriving in the UK in 2016 from Afghanistan on the back of a lorry. The British Transport Police and Northumbria Police are also helping.
A woman in her 50s suffered burns to her eyeballs after running to the aid of the
victims. She and her partner were first on the scene in Clapham, South London.
She did not realise the victims were covered in a corrosive alkali chemical.
Her partner, a City worker, said: “We had no idea any substance was involved, only that the guy was clearly intent on hurting the [threeyear-old]. My partner lunged in and tackled him, grabbing his leg and falling to the ground in the process.”
He said his partner may have permanent damage to her eyeballs.
Ezedi had said he was in a relationship with the 31-year-old woman, according to a close relative of the suspect.
The Home Office is reviewing how Ezedi was granted asylum at the third time of asking in 2020.
In 2018, he was convicted of sexual assault and indecent exposure at Newcastle crown court and was given a 45-week suspended sentence.