Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Shukur Yezdi may have died after falling into the River Thames.
The 35-year-old man has not been seen since the night of the attack on January 31, when the man attacked on a woman by chemical substance at a mother and her two children.
At a news conference on Friday, police said they believed he had drowned after being last seen on Chelsea Bridge.No bodies have been recovered and officials have said that none will ever be recovered.
A Metropolitan Police officer told the briefing that Azadi was seen on CCTV “walking with purpose” for four miles towards the Thames and said that his behavior suddenly changed at Chelsea Bridge.He said he could be seen “leaning over the railing” of the bridge before the CCTV footage was cut off.Clapham chemical attack
At Scotland Yard, Commander John Savile said that officers had “carefully” scanned CCTV over the past 24 hours and their “main working hypothesis” was that he had gone into the water.
Detective Superintendent Rick Siewert said that if Ezedi had gone into the water, death would have been “the most likely outcome”.The force said hundreds of hours of CCTV were examined by officers and it did not appear Yezdi had been in contact with anyone else.
Commander Sewell said the Army’s Marine Support Unit would search the river, but experts warned that if someone had fallen into the river it could take some time to surface.
He said police had spoken to a member of Ezedi’s family to “break that news”. Police have been searching for more than a week, with police raiding properties linked to the estate in the Newcastle area on Thursday.
He was wanted on suspicion of attempted murder in the attack, which happened at about 19:25 in Lesser Avenue.Clapham chemical attack
The woman, who police revealed was in a relationship with the suspect, is unconscious in hospital and there are concerns she may lose the vision in one eye. Her children, aged eight and three, have been discharged.
Police said their thoughts were with the mother, who was still “in a very poor condition and was not able to speak to police”.
The suspected perpetrator, who is not the father of the children, also suffered serious facial injuries in the incident, which police said could have been life-threatening.
Ezedi is an Afghan refugee who came to Britain in a lorry in 2016.
His asylum appeal was rejected twice before he successfully appealed to the Home Office because he had converted to Christianity.
Ezedi was convicted of two sex crimes in 2018, but was allowed to stay because his crimes did not meet the deportation threshold.