23 July 2024 , 14:46
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A coroner’s report has found that Clapham attacker Abdul Ezedi went into the River Thames ’with the intention of ending his own life’ hours after targeting a woman and two girls with chemicals
Chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi - who sparked a weeks-long manhunt after carrying out a horror assault on a woman and two girls - was dead within hours, a coroner has ruled.
Officers began hunting for the 35-year-old after the attack in Clapham, south London on January 31. He is thought to have entered the River Thames later that day, and his body was found on February 19. Senior Coroner Mary Hassell ruled at Poplar Coroners Court that Ezedi, who was found just beneath Chelsea Bridge, died from suicide and drowned.
Ruling out the possibility that Ezedi was pushed or fell into the water by accident, the coroner said: “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.”
Poplar Coroner Mary Hassell told an inquest on Tuesday: "I have no evidence at all that Mr Ezedi was pushed. The CCTV as described to me by the Metropolitan Police Service does not indicate the presence of any person or persons close to Mr Ezedi on the bridge. While I regard it as possible that Mr Ezedi was pushed I don’t regard that as likely, and so I consider the final option; that he jumped into the water.
"Given all the circumstances including what happened earlier in the day, it is likely that he jumped into the water, and it is likely that he did so with the intention of ending his life. A determination of suicide is the appropriate determination."
His body was found in the River Thames by police ( Image: PA)
Police believe Ezedi, from the Newcastle area, doused his former girlfriend, a mother-of-two, with a corrosive chemical after travelling down to London. He fled the scene and used his bank card to travel on the Tube before walking a route that broadly followed the banks of the River Thames in the following hours. A body was recovered by the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Policing Unit, with support from London Fire Brigade.
Ezedi came to the UK hidden in a lorry in 2016. He 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 at Newcastle Crown Court and handed a suspended sentence with an unpaid work order. The Met Police had offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest before his body was pulled from the water.