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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Anthony France

Police resume Thames search for alkali attack suspect Abdul Ezedi after finding two other bodies

Police are resuming their search of the Thames for chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi on Monday.

The Marine Policing Unit are expected to scour the Chelsea Bridge area again.

A police boat was seen circling between Vauxhall and Chelsea bridges on Sunday.

The bodies of two men were unexpectedly found in the river on Saturday morning, but neither are Ezedi, 35.

One body was discovered at 10.13am near to HMS Belfast and another 26 minutes later in Limehouse, the Metropolitan Police said.

Both deaths are being treated by the force as “unexpected pending further enquiries” with reports of recent missing people being checked.

Detectives believe Ezedi may have gone into the river on the night a mother, 31, and her two daughters aged three and eight were doused with a corrosive alkali substance in Clapham, south London.

He was seen on CCTV leaning over the railings of Chelsea Bridge in west London on January 31.

On Friday, the force said its main working hypothesis was Ezedi had “gone into” the river but his body may never be found due to the speed of the current.

The breakdown of Ezedi’s relationship with the woman is considered a possible motive.

Abdul Ezedi (Metropolitan Police/PA). (PA Wire)

Commander Jon Savell confirmed she remains in a “critical but stable condition” in hospital and was still “very poorly and unable to speak” to police.

The UK-wide manhunt to find Ezedi was under way for more than a week, with officers raiding two addresses linked to him in Newcastle in the early hours of Thursday.

Ezedi, who is not the father of the children who were hurt, suffered significant facial injuries in the incident which police previously said could prove fatal if left untreated.

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