Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi drowned himself hours after assaulting a mother and her two daughters
23 July 2024, 12:40 | Updated: 23 July 2024, 13:43
The Clapham chemical attacker, Abdul Ezedi, took his own life within hours of assaulting a mother and her two daughters.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Afghan convicted sex offender Ezedi, 35, threw himself into the River Thames after the attack on January 31, after hurting his partner and her daughters, aged eight and three, in south London.
But the pizza delivery man's body, who had been granted asylum in the UK, was only found on February 19 - nearly three weeks later - after a huge manhunt.
On Tuesday, senior coroner Mary Hassell ruled that Ezedi, whose body was found beneath Chelsea Bridge, probably killed himself.
The coroner said categorically that Ezedi had not been pushed into the water, or fallen in by accident.
Read more: Chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi drowned in Thames, post-mortem reveals
"The circumstances surrounding his death are clear in part," she said.
"The evidence of the Metropolitan Police Service is that he is likely to have entered the River Thames at Chelsea Bridge at approximately 11.30pm. It seems likely to me that he drowned almost immediately and, although he was not found until February 19 2024, I will put his death as January 31."
Ms Hassell added: "Given the circumstances, including what happened in the day, I think that it is likely that he jumped into the water, and I think it is likely that he did so with the intention of ending his life."
Having left Afghanistan in 2016, Ezedi came to the UK and was granted asylum after converting to Christianity. But despite this, he was buried in an Islamic ceremony.
It has been reported that Ezedi was granted asylum by a judge who accepted he was a Christian convert despite concerns he was a liar.
After the attack in January, a huge manhunt saw detectives track Ezedi's final movements along the river on CCTV.
Police believe Ezedi, from the Newcastle area, threw a strong alkali substance 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 attack on January 31.
He then 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.
