On the evening of 31 January 2024, 35-year-old Abdul Ezedi attacked a 31-year-old woman and her two children with a corrosive alkaline substance on a street in Clapham, London.
[3][4] The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 governs such attacks; Section 29 refers to "sending, throwing or using explosive or corrosive substance or noxious thing with intent to do grievous bodily harm" and can carry a sentence of life imprisonment.
[5] Similarly, Section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 makes it an offence to possess "acid in a public place with intent to use it to cause harm".
[5] The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 introduced the offence of "having a corrosive substance in a public place [without] a good reason or lawful authority".
[5][6][7] Abdul Shokoor Ezedi (born 22 June 1988) was from Afghanistan, where he grew up with "no education" and was taught to read and write by a neighbour.
[10][13] In June 2020 Ezedi was baptised,[14] and he applied for asylum again, stating that he had converted to Christianity and would be at risk from the Taliban if he returned to Afghanistan.
The tribunal heard from a Baptist minister in the North East of England who stated his belief that Ezedi had become a Christian and was "wholly committed".
Ezedi was a client of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle's Justice and Peace Refugee Project, where he was provided with toiletries and food tokens.
[16][17] In the early hours of 31 January 2024, Ezedi drove from the Newcastle area to London,[16] where his car was seen in Tooting at 06:30 GMT.
[7] He was next seen on CCTV at a supermarket on Caledonian Road at 20:42,[10][12] before returning to King's Cross and boarding a southbound Victoria line train.
[10][7] He interchanged at Victoria, taking a District line train travelling eastbound,[10] before alighting at Tower Hill at 21:33.
[28][24][7] Whilst not being treated as a terror-related incident, the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism fugitive team became involved in the investigation, tracing Ezedi's movements.
[25][34] On 5 February it was reported that a 22-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of assisting Ezedi, contrary to Section 4 of the Criminal Law Act 1967.
Former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kirkham stated he believed that Ezedi was "being sheltered by an ally or had escaped abroad".
Speaking to the press, Commander Jon Savell stated that as no-one had spotted Ezedi, it was "realistic" that "he has either come to harm and is lying somewhere and yet to be found, or someone's looking after him, as he's not been outside for some time".
[11][35] At a press conference on 7 February, Savell told reporters that investigators had been working continuously since the incident, with early enquiries being on port alerts alongside officers at border agencies.
[28] In response, Savell stated that if Ezedi was hiding' it would be difficult to find him, although hundreds of Metropolitan Police were following lines of enquiries, including examining huge amounts of CCTV footage.
[28][29] Savell added that, through work with the NCA, the Metropolitan Police had been in contact with medical experts who stated that Ezedi's injuries could be very serious or fatal.
[28][36] At a further press conference on 9 February, police said their main working hypothesis was that Ezedi had entered the River Thames in the Chelsea Bridge area.