ASYLUM – The hunt for a suspected chemical attacker who maimed a mother and her two daughters has entered its third day as it emerged the convicted sex offender was allowed to stay in the UK after a priest said he had converted to Christianity.
Police are hunting Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, who is accused of carrying out a ‘targeted’ attack on the mother and her two daughters, aged three and eight, on Wednesday night in Clapham, south London.
Details of the Suspected Criminal Revealed
It emerged last night that Ezedi is a former asylum seeker from Afghanistan who was allowed to stay in the UK despite being convicted of a sexual offence, following two failed applications.
He was granted the right to stay in the UK on his third application in either 2020 or 2021, after a priest vouched that he had converted to Christianity. He was handed a suspended sentence for the offence years earlier in 2018.
The Horrific Attack
Wednesday’s horrific attack on Lessar Road at 7.25pm left the mother, who one witness said was ‘blinded’, and her youngest daughter with ‘life changing injuries’.
The elder child is also said to have suffered bruising and burn-like injuries. All three remain in hospital in a stable condition.
Manhunt Continues
The Met has urged the public to stay away from ‘dangerous’ Ezedi who was also hurt in the horror that unfolded, with CCTV footage released last night showing him with severe burns to his face.
Police last night released CCTV footage of Ezedi buying a bottle of water in a north London Tesco, on Caledonian Road, in Islington, around an hour after the attack on Wednesday evening.
Police said Ezedi sustained ‘significant injuries’ in the attack, which officers say was ‘targeted’.
He is accused of leaping on the ‘vulnerable’ mother and her two daughters, hurling a corrosive alkaline substance from a metal coffee cup leaving the woman screaming: ‘I can’t see, I can’t see!’
Statement From Witness
Horrified locals who ran out to help described the victims’ skin turning black and peeling away on contact with the highly toxic chemical, commonly found in household cleaners such as bleach and drain cleaner.
Several residents on the leafy street near Clapham Common, where houses fetch up to £3 million, were also injured as they came to help, along with five police officers who all came into contact with the chemical.
Police believe the perpetrator had travelled around 250 miles from Newcastle earlier that day to carry out the attack on the woman, who was said to be known to him.
The Horrifying Scene
Distressing footage from the scene showed the 31-year-old mother and her eight-year-old daughter standing in front of the man’s car holding their hands to their faces around 7.25pm.
The suspect was then seen deliberately driving at the mother, hitting her before getting out of the car to haul a three-year-old girl out of the back seat.
Children‘s minister David Johnston was pressed by Sky News on reports the suspect in the alkaline substance attack in south London is a convicted sex offender who was granted asylum after two failed attempts.
Is it a Failure of the Government?
Mr Johnston said: ‘I don’t have his case file and I can’t say anything that might affect the police’s investigation here.
‘He is still at large and what we really need is anyone with information to come forward in order that he can be apprehended, given he is police’s key suspect.
He described the attack as ‘horrific’ and sent his thoughts to the victims. He told Sky News: ‘What has been reported in this particular case will understandably concern I think every member of the public. Concerns me, concerns every member of the government.’
Asked whether it was a failure of the Government for someone to be granted permission to stay in the UK after being convicted of a crime, he said: ‘This is why this government’s so determined to end the asylum merry-go-round.’
Mr Johnston added that a ‘number of cases’ of people appealing and claiming asylum after having their application rejected. He added that the Rwanda Bill aims to stop this from happening.
