THE BODY OF alkali attack suspect Abdul Ezedi has been recovered from the River Thames after a major search, police believe.
Investigators said the identification was based on “distinctive clothing” he was wearing at the time of the attack and the “property found on his body”.
His former girlfriend, a mother-of-two who was doused with a corrosive chemical in a harrowing attack on her and her young children, is now no longer under sedation in hospital.
Friends who are fundraising for the family said she is desperate to be reunited with her two daughters.
They said in a statement given to the PA news agency: “Mum’s still in critical care and desperate to be reunited with her girls. We know mum’s lost her sight in one eye, and we’re praying that it returns fully in the other.”
The group said the woman is a “phenomenal mum” and described her as strong and independent. “She’s already making so much progress and is determined to get out of hospital as quickly as possible.”
More than £44,000 (€51,400) has been raised so far for the woman and her two children, aged 8 and 3, in the wake of the horror attack in Clapham, south London last month.
The friends’ statement said: “Physically and mentally, there is a very, very long road ahead for her and the girls. Like so many of us, the family were really struggling to make ends meet before the attack, so we just want their recovery to not be compounded by financial fears.”
Police believe Ezedi, who was from the Newcastle area, threw a burning chemical over the woman, some of which also injured one of the children, and slammed the three-year-old’s head on the ground in the horror attack on 31 January.
He fled the scene, and initially used his bank card to travel on the Tube before walking a route that broadly hugged the banks of the River Thames in the following hours. During a massive manhunt investigators had to piece together CCTV footage to establish that he had jumped in the Thames.
Detectives leading the hunt for Abdul Ezedi, wanted for a brutal attack on a mother and her children in #Clapham, believe his body has been recovered from the River Thames.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 20, 2024
Listen to Commander Jon Savell’s update 👇https://t.co/AclBNiCnfx pic.twitter.com/lcxAw7kv25
At around 4pm yesterday the crew of a passing boat reported they had seen a body in the water near Tower Bridge at Tower Pier. The body was recovered by the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Policing Unit and has been viewed by detectives working on the investigation.
Commander Jon Savell said: “Based on the distinctive clothing he was wearing at the time of the attack and property found on his body, we strongly believe we have recovered the body of Ezedi.
“We have been in contact with his family to pass on the news. As you may expect after a considerable period of time in the strong current of the Thames, formal identification is not possible visually, nor from fingerprints.”
Savell said the Policing unit with work with the State coroner on other ways to complete formal identification, such as DNA testing and dental records.
He added that inquiries into the attack remain ongoing but the 31-year-old woman’s condition has improved and is now stable. Police will seek a formal statement from her “as soon she is well enough”.
“Again, I thank all those hundreds of members of the public who called us with information during the hunt for Ezedi. The public support for our investigation was overwhelming and every piece of information provided was followed up,” he added.
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