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LONDON (AP) — London police confirmed Friday that a body they pulled from the River Thames is that of Abdul Ezedi, a man wanted over a chemical attack that injured his former partner and her two young daughters.
The Metropolitan Police said his body was formally identified on Thursday and that his family has been informed of this development. The force also said that a post-mortem has confirmed his cause of death as drowning.
“As the public would expect, our enquiries continue into this atrocious attack," said Commander Jon Savell. "The 31-year-old woman is still in hospital and remains in a stable condition and no longer sedated. We have still not been able to speak to her but hope to as soon as she is well enough.”
Police launched a nationwide manhunt for Ezedi after the attack in the Clapham area of south London on Jan. 31 that saw the mother-of-two doused with a corrosive alkali. Some of the chemical injured her 8-year-old daughter, while the 3-year-old had her head slammed into the ground.
Images of Ezedi soon after showed he had significant injuries to the right side of his face, but his whereabouts were unknown. On Feb. 9, the Met said they believed Ezedi had probably “gone into the water” after piecing together closed-circuit television footage of his movements after the attack.
The Met said the crew of a passing boat reported seeing a body in the water near the Tower of London on Monday afternoon and that they believed it was Ezedi.
British media reported that Ezedi is an Afghan refugee who was granted asylum despite being convicted of a sex offense in Britain in 2018. His asylum application was initially rejected, but he later was permitted to remain in the U.K. after claiming that he had converted to Christianity, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.