Police manhunt for chemical attack suspect enters fifth day

The manhunt for alkali attack suspect Abdul Ezedi has entered its fifth day with a £20,000 reward in place for anyone with information leading to his arrest.

Metropolitan Police officers have been searching for the 35-year-old since Wednesday after a 31-year-old woman suffered potentially life-changing injuries while her daughters, aged eight and three, were also hurt in the attack in Clapham.

The woman, who was known to Ezedi, remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

On Sunday, police said the suspect used a “very strong concentrated corrosive substance” in the attack.

Police investigators believe there are people who know Ezedi’s whereabouts and have not come forward.

The Met has warned anyone found assisting him will face arrest.

The force said the last sighting of Ezedi, who is from Newcastle, was at 9.33pm at Tower Hill Underground station in east London on January 31, shortly after the attack in Clapham.

It comes as questions have been raised over how the suspect, who was granted asylum in the UK after two failed attempts, was able to stay in the country despite being convicted of a sex offence.

Police said Ezedi left Newcastle in the early hours of Wednesday and travelled south to London and was in the Tooting area by around 6.30am.

His vehicle was seen again in Croydon, south London, at around 4.30pm and by around 7pm he was in Streatham.

Ezedi allegedly threw the younger child to the ground during the attack at 7.25pm, before attempting to drive away from the scene, crashing into a stationary vehicle and fleeing on foot.

Minutes later he boarded a Tube train at Clapham South Underground station, and by 8pm he was at King’s Cross Tube station.

Police say three members of the public who came to the aid of the family during Wednesday’s attack, two aged in their 30s and one in her 50s, have all been discharged from hospital with minor burns.