LONDON: UK police on Tuesday said they believed a body recovered from London’s River Thames was that of a man wanted for attacking a mother and her young children with a corrosive substance.
The Metropolitan Police said earlier this month their working hypothesis was that 35-year-old Abdul Ezedi had gone into the water and drowned after he was last seen on the capital’s Chelsea Bridge.
A man hunt was launched for Ezedi, originally from Afghanistan, following what police said was the “terrifying” January 31 attack in London on the 31-year-old woman and her daughters, aged eight and three.
The woman, who had previously been in a relationship with the suspect, remains in hospital and has lost the sight in one eye, according to relatives.
“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,” the Met’s Commander Jon Savell said.
The body was recovered after a passing boat reported a corpse in the water on Monday evening, he said.
Ezedi, a convicted sex offender, was given asylum in Britain despite the conviction, according to media reports.
Officers had warned the public not to approach him and said he suffered severe damage to the right side of his face in the attack.
The UK has battled back against attacks involving corrosive substances including acid, which had declined following a peak of 941 cases recorded in 2017.
But cases spiked again in 2022, according to the charity Acid Survivors Trust International