River chase for Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi begins after latest CCTV footage shows him walking along Chelsea Bridge railings

Police are today searching the River Thames for alleged chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi, from Clapham, as it is believed he “jumped and drowned” after crossing Chelsea Bridge.

Met Police think the 35 year old suspect went into the water in West London on the night of the attack, after walking “on purpose” for several hours.

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CCTV footage shows him leaning over the bridge before disappearing from view, police said.

Ezedi is wanted in connection with the pouring of a mother and her daughters with an alkaline substance on the night of January 31.

He was last seen at Chelsea Bridge at 11.27pm, around four hours after the attack in Clapham, south London.

Ezedi was not seen leaving the bridge.

Officers said at a briefing on Friday that the search of the Thames would take place at low tide and would involve boats from the Marine Policing Unit.

Police said the river was flowing very fast and full of obstacles at this time of year, and it was possible that Ezedi's body would never surface.

Commander Jon Savell said officers had been “closely monitoring” CCTV footage over the past 24 hours and that their “main working hypothesis” was that Ezedi had gone into the water.

He said: “We looked at all available cameras and angles, and with the help of Transport for London and CCTV footage from buses passing over the bridge at the time, and there is no sighting of him coming from the bridge.”

Commander Savell added that a naval support unit would also “conduct some searches in the Thames” where he was last seen.

He said it would likely “take some time… for a person to surface and unfortunately he may never be found.”

Police have been in contact with a member of Ezedi's family to “tell them that news”.

Det Supt Rick Sewart said death was the “most likely outcome” if Ezedi had gone into the water.

Change in 'attitude'

The metropolitan police said Clapham alkali attack appeared to change suspect Ezedi's “behaviour” as he walked across Chelsea Bridge.

Savell added: “When he reaches Chelsea Bridge his behavior seems to change.

'I would describe him more as walking with purpose, as if he knew where he was going and walked at a reasonable pace.

“When he drives onto Chelsea Bridge, he crosses the bridge more than once.

“And then when he comes back to the center, it looks like he's walking from the railing back to the sidewalk and looking over the edge of the railing.

“So a definite change in the way he moves.”

Two minutes later he was seen on camera again returning to the north side of Chelsea Bridge.

It comes after police said they believed Ezedi was “helped by others” to evade arrest and their investigation focused on “more of Ezedi's associates” following the arrest of a man on suspicion of helping an offender.

He was later released on bail.

Chemical attack

Ezedi suffered a horrific wound to the right side of his face, apparently suffered during the attack at 7.25pm.

He arranged to meet the 31-year-old woman after she ended a relationship with him and drove from his home in Newcastle to London in a white Hyundai car.

When the woman and her children got into his car, he threw a bottle of alkaline liquid in her face, causing horrific facial injuries.

She and her eldest daughter escaped from the vehicle and Ezedi then drove towards her and crashed his car.

Ezedi fled on foot and took the Tube from Clapham South to King's Cross, north London, before heading south again.

He got off at Tower Hill and CCTV footage showed him walking west along Southwark Bridge and on to Blackfriars where he was seen outside a building. Unilever building at 10:04 p.m.

He continued west, his route running along the Thames, passing a few yards from New Scotland Yard before crossing Westminster Bridge.

Horror injuries

Search for specialists from the Met's desk terrorism fugitive teams then located him 59 minutes later from CCTV on the north side of Vauxhall Bridge.

From there he continued west to Chelsea Bridge, where he is now believed to have jumped into the dark tidal waters.

Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday, Commander Savell said: “It is possible he entered the Thames.

“Unfortunately we are taking people out of the Thames and it will take a while for this to happen.

“It's a very fast-flowing body of water. No one saw anyone enter the Thames and no bodies were recovered.”

He added that police are considering whether Ezedi ended up in the river 'intentionally or accidentally'.

Meanwhile, the mother injured in the chemical attack is in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital.

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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