Police divers will begin searching for Abdul Ezedi in the Thames today after officials said it’s likely he could have “jumped” following the alleged attack on an ex-partner and her two daughters.
The Metropolitan Police are still hunting the 35-year-old suspect after he vanished following the attack on January 31.
According to a source speaking to The Sun, the team investigating Ezedi believe he “died soon after the last sighting of him on camera on the north side of the river”.
At a news briefing on Wednesday Commander Jon Savell said: “It is a possibility he has gone into the Thames. Sadly, we recover people from the Thames and it takes a while for it to happen. It is a very fast-flowing body of water. Nobody has seen anyone going into the Thames and no bodies have been recovered.”
Ezedi, from Newcastle, is wanted for attempted murder after a mother and her two children were injured by a corrosive liquid. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that armed police had raided addresses as well.
Marine Policing Unit boats will deployed for the search which will take place at low tide today.
Last week, Nick Aldworth a former national counter-terrorism co-ordinator with 36 years’ experience in the police and military, said it was “not unlikely” Ezedi could have taken his own life.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think if we’ve not seen or heard from him in the last couple of days, which appears to be the case, he’s gone to ground, possibly supported by somebody…
“Or – it’s not unlikely or improbable – that he may have taken his own life. There is therefore a body to be found somewhere.”
The Met Police shared CCTV images that showed Ezedi with a “melted eye” following the attack. It has been confirmed that the victim was known to the suspect, with Commander Jon Savell saying the breakdown of a relationship between them could have been a motive for the attack.
He fled the scene in Clapham, at first using his bank card to travel around on the Tube network, and then walking a route that appeared to hug the banks of the River Thames.
He was last seen at 11.37pm on Chelsea Bridge – around four hours after the attack on Lesser Avenue in Clapham. He was never seen leaving the bridge area.
In a briefing at Scotland Yard, Commander Jon Savell said: “We have spent the last 24 hours meticulously following the CCTV, and it’s our main working hypothesis that he’s now gone into the water. We have looked at all of the available cameras and angles, and with the assistance of Transport for London and CCTV from buses that were travelling over the bridge at the relevant time and there is no sighting of him coming off the bridge.”
