Abdul Ezedi: Body recovered from River Thames formally identified as Clapham alkali attack suspect

A body recovered from the River Thames earlier this week has been formally identified as Clapham alkali attack suspect Abdul Ezedi. The Metropolitan Police said a post-mortem examination carried out on Wednesday (February 21) confirmed his cause of death was drowning.

It was reported on Monday that a body was recovered from the water at Tower Pier after a passing boat spotted the corpse in the river, with detectives "strongly believing" that it belonged to the suspect.

Police believe that Ezedi orchestrated an attack on a woman and her two children last month. He is said to have poured a strong alkali substance on his ex-partner, who was then taken to hospital, with the break-up of the relationship being considered as a possible motive.

Commander Jon Savell said: “We have worked to formally identify Ezedi as quickly as possible. As the public would expect, our enquiries continue into this atrocious attack. The 31-year-old woman is still in hospital and remains in a stable condition and no longer sedated. We have still not been able to speak to her but hope to as soon as she is well enough."

Ezedi, 35, had been accused of throwing a strong alkali on his ex-partner and injuring her two young children, aged three and eight, during the attack in Clapham, south London. He was last seen walking “with purpose” to Chelsea Bridge in west London and was captured on CCTV leaning over the railings of the bridge on the night of the attack.

It was reported that Ezedi, an Afghan refugee, 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.

It is understood that a tribunal judge ruled in favour of his asylum plea in 2020 following testimony from a retired Baptist church minister who attested to Ezedi's sincere commitment to his new religion. On Wednesday a Baptist church in Tyne and Wear, where Ezedi is believed to be from, confirmed it was aware of a “connection” it had with the suspect.