A nationwide manhunt is under way for a former asylum seeker, who was twice denied the right to stay in the UK before committing a sex attack, over a terrifying chemical attack on a mother and her two young daughters.
Police urged the public to stay away from ‘dangerous’ Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, who is accused of leaving the victims with ‘life-changing’ injuries.
The 35-year-old was also hurt in the horror that unfolded in the middle of Clapham, south London, with CCTV capturing him with severe burns to his face.
Ezedi is accused of dousing the mother and her daughters, aged three and eight, with a corrosive chemical, as well as attacking the younger girl and ‘slamming’ her in to the road.
The mother was left ‘blinded’ by the attack, according to witnesses, and it is understood Ezedi is known to the alleged victims.
Tonight it emerged that Ezedi is an Afghan refugee who was twice turned down for asylum after arriving illegally in Britain in 2016 in the back of a lorry.
The Met Police said that the image was taken at 20:48 on January 31 in the Tesco by Kings Cross station, on Caledonia Road
The suspect in the alkaline attack in Clapham, south London, has been named as 35-year-old Abdul Ezedi
Dramatic CCTV footage from last night obtained exclusively by MailOnline shows a man running along a road near to where the attack took place
Abdul Shokoor Ezedi managed to get across London in just over an hour
Just two years later, he was convicted of a sexual assault/exposure offence at Newcastle Crown Court and handed a suspended sentence and an unpaid work order, which was completed in 2020.
Despite his criminal history, Ezedi was granted asylum on a subsequent appeal after getting a priest to vouch that he had converted to Christianity.
Nigel Farage told MailOnline: ‘This is a huge wake up call. He should have been deported after the first asylum claim.’
Details about the suspect emerged yesterday as officers released disturbing CCTV footage of his last known whereabouts. With his face heavily scarred, he could be seen buying a bottle of water in a north London Tesco, understood to be the branch closest to King’s Cross Station, around an hour after the attack on Wednesday evening.
Police said Ezedi sustained ‘significant injuries’ in the attack, which officers say was ‘targeted’.
He is accused of leaping on the ‘vulnerable’ mother and her two daughters, hurling an alkaline substance from a metal coffee cup leaving the woman screaming: ‘I can’t see, I can’t see!’
The disturbing footage shows a man running towards the driver’s door and getting inside before driving the white car into a woman as members of the public rush to her aid
Further CCTV from last night shows the suspected chemical attacker ramming a car at a mother before taking a child out of a car and slamming her to the floor
Horrified locals who ran out to help described the victims’ skin turning black and peeling away on contact with the highly toxic chemical, commonly found in household cleaners such as bleach and drain cleaner.
Several residents on the leafy street near Clapham Common, where houses fetch up to £3 million, were also injured as they came to help, along with five police officers who all came into contact with the chemical.
Police believe the perpetrator had travelled around 250 miles from Newcastle earlier that day to carry out the attack on the woman, who was said to be known to him.
Home Secretary James Cleverly, who described the attack as ‘appalling’, said: ‘My thoughts are with [the victims] and the brave members of the public and police who intervened.
‘I urge the public to support the Metropolitan Police’s appeal and to come forward if they have any information.
‘While a live investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further.
‘It would be inappropriate to comment on a suspect’s immigration status during a live police investigation.’
Distressing footage from the scene showed the 31-year-old mother and her eight-year-old daughter standing in front of the man’s car holding their hands to their faces around 7.25pm.
The suspect was then seen deliberately driving at the mother, hitting her before getting out of the car to haul a three-year-old girl out of the back seat.
Terrified witnesses described the suspect throwing the child ‘like a ragdoll’ above his head before smashing her down on the ground.
One local said: ‘The man was throwing the little girl on the floor like he was in a wrestling ring.’
Another horrified witness said: ‘Like the Hulk, he lifted her and threw her on the floor, lifted her again and threw her on the floor again.’
Both the mother and her three-year-old suffered ‘life-changing injuries’.
The elder child, who was wearing her school uniform, is said to have suffered bruising and burn-like injuries. All three tonight remained in hospital.
One witness described the mother’s horrific injuries: ‘Her lips were completely black. Her face looked really burnt, like stripped off basically.’
Forensics at the scene take picture of the location close to Clapham Common
The three victims are among ten injured as eight were rushed to hospital after the horror incident in south London , police said
Three women and a man in his 50s were also taken to hospital to be treated for minor burns injuries after rushing to help them, along were five police officers. All have since been discharged.
Shannon Christi was one of those injured. She recalled: ‘They were screaming, “Help! Help!” The little one was thrown to the floor. It was aggressive. He threw her down on the floor. Then he picked her up and threw her down again.
‘That’s when I ran in and just grabbed her, because I couldn’t watch.
‘I didn’t see anything on her clothes, but there was something on her coat that got transferred to me. She landed on her face. It was scratched, bruised.
‘I saw the mother afterwards. Her face was red and sore. Her eyes were closed and she was screaming: “I can’t see!”
‘That’s when I realised something had been thrown at her. So I called for someone to get water. Her lips went black. It was all over her face. At that point, my face and my arms started tingling.
‘My lips started tingling so I knew something was wrong. I ran into my house and washed my arms and my face.’
Photos show a white Hyundai i20 hatchback with its doors open and windscreen shattered abandoned on the street in Clapham, where homes sell for as much as £3million
Another resident, Mohamed Ilyas, said: ‘I saw him driving into her. He smashed her with the car, then the kid went and knocked on the door, saying “Mummy! Mummy!”, hitting on the door.
‘Then he got out the car, went into the backseat, pulled out the other little child and smashed her on the floor.’
After the brutal attack, the suspect tried to drive off in his car but collided with a stationary vehicle. He then fled on foot in the direction of Clapham Common. Nearby CCTV caught him sprinting through neighbouring streets in such a hurry that he stumbled on a speed bump before tripping on a kerb. The suspect later appeared at a Tesco store on Caledonian Road, Islington, at 8.48pm dressed in a black hoodie and blue T-shirt.
Last night officers urged members of the public not to approach him and call 999 instead. Detectives believe he may be heading back to Newcastle.
The mother and two girls were given emergency first aid at Clapham South Belvedere Hotel, a complex used to house Afghan refugees where they had been living.
The car appeared to have crashed into other parked vehicles as it came to a stop on the residential road
Forensics were seen closely examining a silver thermal carry-cup, which was located next to a bin
Abdul Shokoor Ezedi has not been seen at his address in Newcastle for around six months, neighbours told MailOnline.
He was last known to be living in a shared terraced house in Dilston Road in the Arthur’s Hill area of the city.
Neighbours said the house had a high turnover of tenants and few remembered him.
However Mohammad Hussain Nazary, 24, who works in his family’s food shop said he recalled Ezedi living in the area but assumed he was a single man.
He said: ‘I’d see him around the area and he’d come in from time to time.
‘He’s an Afghan and I assumed he was single because I never saw him with a partner or family, he was always on his own.
‘He seemed like an ordinary harmless guy, certainly not someone you’d associate with something like this.
Two scientists could be seen crowding around the mug, which appeared to have an evidence marker
‘He was around quite a lot but I haven’t seen him in maybe six or seven months.’
A neighbour said: ‘There are a lot of long term residents in the street but also a couple of houses where tenants come and go all the time and that house is one of them. There are new people moving in very regularly , you can’t keep track of who is living there.’
MailOnline can tonight reveal that Ezedi has more recently living in the Byker area of Newcastle in a hostel on the city’s Wilfred Street.
It is run by Tyne Housing Association which aims to find homes for people who are classed as homeless or vulnerable.
A resident said: ‘You’d see him walking around during the day, usually on his own and I don’t recall ever seeing him with a wife or partner.’
Garage worker Michael Vinks, 37, works opposite the hostel.
He said: ‘He came in a while ago and chatted to my boss about possibly buying a car, but it didn’t come to anything.’
Bilal Khan (pictured), owner of Billy’s Garage in Byker, near Ezedi’s last known address, said the alleged attacker had been ‘persistent’ when trying to buy a car off him last summer
Mr Khan indicated that Ezedi lived in a nearby halfway house, and he preferred not to do business with its residents
Bilal Khan, owner of Billy’s Garage in Byker, near Ezedi’s last known address, said the alleged attacker had been ‘persistent’ when trying to buy a car off him last summer.
Mr Khan said: ‘He approached me last year asking if I had a car for sale. We had one which he was interested in and I told him the price. He was a very persistent type of guy, he doesn’t let things go easily.
‘He was coming and going back to me about the car but I told him ‘this is my price’.’
Mr Khan indicated that Ezedi lived in a nearby halfway house, and he preferred not to do business with its residents. ‘I try to keep my distance from people like that,’ he said.
The negotiation over the car ended without a sale last summer and Mr Khan said he had not seen Ezedi since around Christmas or New Year.
Asked if he was worried about the suspect returning to Newcastle, Mr Khan said: ‘I don’t think so. If he knows the police and the media are after him then he will stay away, if he doesn’t get caught.’
Met Police Superintendent Gabriel Cameron said: ‘We believe the man and woman are known to each other. We are working to establish why this awful incident has happened.
‘Officers from across the Met are working with partner agencies and forces to locate and arrest the man. While this appears to be a targeted attack, he is a dangerous individual and we urgently need to find him.’
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said a ‘big team’ of officers were involved in the manhunt following the ‘ghastly attack’.
Strong alkaline materials, such as sodium hydroxide or ammonia, can cause blindness, severe burns and permanent scarring.
But it is difficult to ban the harmful chemicals as many are found in ordinary household cleaning products.
Concentrated bleach contains around 10 to 15 per cent sodium hypochlorite, which can burn skin on contact.
Other products such as oven cleaner, drain unblockers and metal polish are also alkaline substances.
The chemicals can rapidly eat away skin, the layer of fat beneath the skin, and in some cases bone.