Suspect drove 300 miles to carry out attack
Asylum seeker travelled length of country before allegedly dousing woman and children with chemicals
ALMOST 300 miles away from the streets of Clapham lined with multi-million-pound homes, Abdul Shokoor Ezedi had been living in dilapidated hostels and halfway houses since he arrived from Afghanistan in the back of a lorry.
The 35-year-old was described as mild-mannered and was said by neighbours in the Byker area of Newcastle to “keep himself to himself ”.
His last known address was at a hostel on the city’s Wilfred Street, which is run by Tyne Housing Association and provides accommodation for people deemed homeless or vulnerable.
He always appeared to be by himself and did not appear to have a wife or children, locals said.
Bilal Khan, owner of Billy’s Garage in Byker, said Ezedi had tried to buy a car from him last summer.
Mr Khan said: “I had a black automatic Ford Fiesta for sale for £5,000 and he kept coming in and trying to buy it for £4,000.
“He’s a small, skinny guy. There’s nothing threatening about him.”
He added: “I’ve never seen him with anyone, as far as I could see he spent his days on his own hanging around the street near the hostel.” The negotiation over the car ended without a sale last summer and Mr Khan said he had not seen Ezedi since around Christmas.
In 2018, it is understood Ezedi was convicted of a sexual offence at Newcastle Crown Court. He was handed a suspended sentence for “sexual assault/ exposure” along with an unpaid work order. It is understood that this was completed in 2020 when Ezedi was discharged from probation supervision.
The Telegraph has learnt he twice failed to get asylum in the UK before succeeding on his third attempt in 2021 or 2022 after a priest backed up his claim that he had converted to Christianity.
Ministry of Justice sources said Ezedi was not under supervision by the time he allegedly got into his white Hyundai and drove to London on Wednesday.
At 7.25pm, on Lessar Avenue, metres away from Clapham Common, a man suspected to be Ezedi was seen on CCTV.
Footage shows him running around a car stopped in the middle of the road before getting into the driver’s seat.
In front of the vehicle, a woman and child are seen holding their hands up.
Then, the man drives the car into the woman, striking her.
He is then seen getting out of the car and opening the back door before appearing to remove a child, who is thrown hard onto the ground.
One witness described it as the “most horrific thing I have ever seen”.
As residents rushed out to help, the woman was heard screaming, “my eyes, my eyes”. It soon became clear that a chemical substance had been poured over the woman and her two children.
Ezedi is suspected of attacking the 31-year-old mother of three and her two girls, aged three and eight, with an unknown alkaline substance. It is understood the victims, who have not been named and have suffered life-changing injuries, are known to him.
Shannon Christi, a mother of three who lives in flats at the end of the road, stepped in to save the two children.
The 35-year-old bus driver said: “I heard the commotion and I ran outside. I saw a little girl being thrown to the floor. At that point, I ran in and grabbed her off the floor. I heard her mum shouting ‘I can’t see, I can’t see’. So I called my partner to get some water.
“Staff at the hospital then came round and doused her with water. At that point, my skin started to tingle. Me and the little girl went into the block to wash our eyes and faces with water.
“The mum was walking along the street but she couldn’t see anything. [The suspect] ran straight off and my partner chased him halfway down the street but he was wearing slippers.”
Emergency services went to the scene and as they attempted to help the victims, several workers sustained minor injuries from the chemical substance.
Three police officers were taken to hospital and another two received treatment. Despite their life-changing injuries, the children and their mother were said to be in a stable condition.
Immediately after the attack, the woman was taken into the nearby Clapham South Belvedere Hotel, which houses refugees and vulnerable homeless people.
One resident said the woman was heard praying to Allah and crying as staff attempted to wash the caustic substance from her face. The 26-year-old added: “She was praying to her God, she was praying to Allah. The kids were praying. The mother looked really bad.
“She was crying, and a Romanian woman was trying to clean her face. They were helping the kids as well.”
Another said: “Everyone is saying the woman has been blinded as a result of this incident.”
Empty plastic bottles of water, blue roll and corrosive substance wash canisters were strewn over the front patio of the hotel. CCTV images on a road nearby shortly after the attack show a man, believed to be Ezedi, running before stumbling over a speed bump and tripping over a kerb.
Just over an hour after the attack, at 8:48pm, Ezedi was pictured in a Tesco store on Caledonian Road in the Islington area of north London, some seven miles away.
Images released by police showed the extent of the facial injuries sustained by Ezedi during the attack.
CCTV pictures show dark black marks covering his right eye, while the Afghan, wearing a blue top and black hoodie, clutches a bottle of water.
A nationwide manhunt was launched with detectives warning Ezedi was a “dangerous individual”.
Last night, a police car was parked yards from Ezedi’s last known address in Byker. One resident said that he was “quiet and polite” to his neighbours.
Met Police Superintendent Gabriel Cameron said he had “no idea” of the suspect’s motive but added that he was “wholeheartedly confident” Ezedi would be caught.