STOP HIDING

Refugee in caustic alkali attack case urged to hand himself in

- TOM PETTIFOR

POLICE have urged a badly injured chemical attack suspect to hand himself in.

Abdul Ezedi, 35, is thought to have spent 13 hours prowling the streets near the home of a 31-year-old mother before throwing a corrosive alkali substance at her and her two young children.

Ezedi, thought to be from Afghanistan, was granted asylum in 2020 after appealing against a second verdict denying it.

The appeal's success came despite Ezedi's admissions of sexual assault and exposure in 2018, after which he was put on the sex offender register.

This would usually mean an asylum seeker would be rejected and it is not clear why he was granted refugee status.

Ezedi, a pizza takeaway worker, has not been seen since boarding a Tube train at 9pm on Wednesday, 95 minutes after the attack in Clapham, south London.

Police have issued a new image of the fugitive, showing him with a badly injured right eye.

The doused with the corrosive woman alkaline substance was last night still sedated in hospital after suffering injuries expected to be "life-changing", police said.