‘He came in here all the time’

‘POLITE’ CHEMICAL ATTACK SUSPECT W0RKED IN TYNESIDE TAKEAWAY

FUGITIVE chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi was a “kind” and “polite” customer according to a Tyneside shopkeeper who served him everyday.

The Chronicle can today reveal that the 35-year-old, who has been at the centre of a national manhunt since the horrific incident in London last week, had been working in a North Tyneside takeaway for around a year.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police have been hunting Ezedi, who lived in Byker, Newcastle, since last Wednesday when a 31-year-old woman and her two daughters were injured by a “corrosive substance” in Clapham.

And a shopkeeper who spoke to Ezedi every day at her shop in Forest Hall has told The Chronicle of her shock and surprise when she discovered he was linked to such the horror attack.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: “It was really, really shocking when I heard that. He was always a really, really kind person.”

The shopkeeper said Ezedi would come into her shop at around 4pm every day before starting his shift at the takeaway.

“He came in here all the time, he came every day before he started work,” the 33-year-old said. “He would just buy pop or Red Bull and biscuits. He liked Jaffa Cakes.”

Police say Ezedi used a “very strong concentrated corrosive substance”, in the attack, which left the 31-year-old victim with potentially “life-changing” injuries.

The woman, who officers say knows Ezedi, remains in hospital in a “critical but stable” condition.

Her daughters, aged eight and three, were also hurt in the attack but have since been discharged. The Metropolitan Police has now offered a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to Ezedi’s arrest and have circulated several images of him since Wednesday.

The shopkeeper said she recognised him instantly when she saw his face on television.

“I saw it on the news and I recognised him straight away,” she said.

“I was really, really shocked. It was really unbelievable.”

And the mum-of-two told The Chronicle it was hard to comprehend that her friendly customer was the fugitive suspect.

“Whenever he came here he was a really polite person,” she said.

“He’s never been rude or anything like that. He was always asking how I was.

“I have got a little girl and a son and he was always asking after them. And he always said ‘God bless you’.”

A man who works in the same

Abdul Ezedi pictured in London takeaway where Azedi was employed said he was also shocked to discover his former colleague was at the centre of the manhunt.

He said: “I was very shocked, like everybody was, when I saw it on the news. He didn’t seem like a person who could be involved in that so I was very shocked.”

Barber Natalie Green, who works near the takeaway, also recognised Ezedi when she saw his picture in The Chronicle. The 31-year-old said he worked in the kitchen.

“He used to cook in there,” she said. “I recognised him from the picture in The Chronicle, I didn’t know anything about him until I saw that.”