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Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi ‘jumped off bridge and drowned’, cops believe as they share last known video
Grim theory comes as manhunt reaches ninth day after CCTV revealed fugitive's final movements
CHEMICAL fugitive Abdul Ezedi threw himself off Chelsea Bridge and drowned in the River Thames, police believe.
The 35-year-old Afghan refugee has not been seen since the night he allegedly doused a mum and her daughters with a searing corrosive fluid.
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He was last spotted on CCTV close to the bridge just before 11.30pm last Wednesday, four hours after the attack in Clapham, South West London.
Sun Online earlier revealed how detectives now believe Ezedi perished in the river soon afterwards.
One source said: “The investigation team believe Ezedi died soon after the last sighting of him on camera on the north side of the river.”
The theory was confirmed by the Met today after Ezedi was last seen pacing to-and-from a railing on the centre of Chelsea Bridge.
Ezedi crossed over the bridge twice, initially walking south and entering Battersea Park at 11.25pm.
Commander Jon Savell added: “It is our main working hypothesis that he has gone into the water.
“There is no sighting of him coming over the bridge.
“There is no positive sighting and no body.
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“We are working with our experts in our marine policing unit and a specialist oceanographer.
“It is quite likely, if he has gone in, that he will not appear for a month, or he may never surface.”
The Metropolitan Police said Clapham alkali attack suspect Ezedi's "demeanour" appeared to change as he walked over Chelsea Bridge.
In a briefing at Scotland Yard, Commander Jon Savell added: "When he gets to Chelsea Bridge, his demeanour appears to change.
"I would describe him previously as walking sort of purposefully, as if he knew where he was going and he was walking at a reasonable pace.
"As he gets onto Chelsea Bridge, he does cross the bridge more than once.
"And then when he gets back to the centre, he appears to be moving from the railings back to the pavement and looking over the edge of the railings.
"So a distinct change in how he's been moving about."
Two minutes later he was seen again on camera heading back to the north side of Chelsea Bridge, in West London.
The officer said he does not believe Ezedi was helped by pals during his four-mile journey fleeing cops.
Commander Savell also revealed a behavioural scientist at the National Crime Agency (NCA), studied the last movements of Ezedi along the river.
He told the Met that Ezedi committed a horrific attack and its possible he could have taken his life as a consequence.
Commander Savell added: “We are in contact with a member of his family as we speak, it will be devastating news, they will learn what he has done.
“Our thoughts remain with the victim who is still too poorly to speak.”
Cops will now carry out searches of the River Thames - and Ezedi's family have been informed.
Chemical attack
The conclusion reached by detectives suggests there are no further sightings of Ezedi.
He suffered a hideous wound to the right side of his face apparently sustained during the attack at 7.25pm.
He arranged to meet the 31-year-old woman after she had ended a relationship with him and drove down to London from his Newcastle home in a white Hyundai car.
When the woman and her children got into his car he flung a flask of the alkaline in her face causing horrific facial injuries.
She and her oldest daughter escaped from the vehicle and Ezedi then drove at her and crashed his car.
Ezedi fled on foot and took a tube from Clapham South to King’s Cross, North London, before heading back south again.
He got off at Tower Hill and CCTV showed him walking west by Southwark Bridge and on to Blackfriars where he was seen outside a Unilever building at 10.04pm.
He carried on walking west, his route hugging the Thames and he passed yards from New Scotland Yard before crossing over Westminster Bridge.
Horror injuries
Manhunt specialists from the Met’s counter terrorism fugitive teams then placed him 59 minutes later from CCTV on the north side of Vauxhall Bridge.
From there he continued walking west to Chelsea Bridge, where he is now thought to have jumped into the dark tidal waters.
At a news briefing on Wednesday Commander 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.”
He added that police were considering whether Ezedi ended up in the river “either deliberately or accidentally.”
Meanwhile, the mother wounded in the chemical attack remains in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital.
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She has suffered life-changing injuries and doctors have said she may lose her right eye.
Her young daughters were also injured in the attack and are making progress.
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