Detectives hunting suspected chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi have said he was last sighted near Southwark Bridge hours after the incident.
Police believe he is being harboured or may be dead, with officers failing to track him despite a five-day manhunt. They are offering a £20,000 reward in their search for Ezedi who is alleged to have thrown a corrosive substance at people in Clapham on Wednesday, January 31.
Twelve people were injured, including a mother, 31, and her two daughters, aged three and eight.
The mother is still sedated and may lose the sight in her right eye while her children have been discharged. The last confirmed sighting of Ezedi, 35, was at Allhallows Lane near Southwark Bridge at 9.47pm on Wednesday.
A 22-year-old man detained on suspicion of assisting an offender yesterday (February 5) has since been released on bail.
Commander Jon Savell said of the search for Ezedi: “We’ve got a number of hypotheses to talk in police terms about what might have happened.
“Him having come to some harm is obviously one of them. I think that it’s realistic to understand that the fact that no one has seen him recently and he’s not been spotted by anybody would mean that he has either come to harm and is lying somewhere and yet to be found, or someone’s looking after him, as he’s not been outside for some time.”
The last time Ezedi used a bank card was when he exited Tower Hill station at 9.33pm on Wednesday after travelling on the London underground network. Police have recovered Ezedi’s mobile phone from a car involved in the incident and are analysing it to establish the relationship between him and the victim. Laboratory analysis of the substance used at the attack site has shown it was “either liquid sodium hydroxide or liquid sodium carbonate”, police said. Police are also conducting chemical analysis on containers recovered from Ezedi’s address in Newcastle.
Commander Jon Savell said: “Our message here is clear – if you are harbouring Ezedi we will find and arrest you. This man is a dangerous individual who has changed forever the lives of a family – we are doing everything we can to trace him and that includes targeting his associates.”