Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi was allowed to stay in UK despite sex offence conviction

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The Clapham chemical assault suspect was granted asylum after convincing a choose he was a Christian convert – despite issues he had “fabricated” components of his declare.

A tranche of immigration paperwork has revealed a choose had already refused Abdul Ezedi’s utility for asylum in 2017 as a result of they didn’t imagine his conversion – which occurred in a matter of weeks – was real.

However, he was granted depart to stay after efficiently convincing a distinct choose on enchantment three years later, arguing his new Christian religion may lead to his persecution if he was returned to Afghanistan.

His profitable declare was supported by a Baptist minister from a church in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, which he joined shortly after arriving in Britain in 2016.

Shockingly, the enchantment ruling permitting him to stay – dated 10 November 2020 – made no reference to his convictions for sex offences two years earlier.

He was handed a suspended sentence and placed on the sex offenders register in 2018 after pleading responsible to one cost of sexual assault and one among publicity.

The former automotive mechanic, who suffered from melancholy and nervousness and informed immigration officers he talked to himself, is feared to have gone on to commit a horrific chemical assault on his ex-partner and her two younger youngsters in Clapham, south London, in January this yr.

His physique was later pulled from the Thames after he’s thought to have plunged from Chelsea Bridge hours after the assault.

According to tribunal paperwork obtained by media organisations, Ezedi arrived in the UK on 8 January 2016 and utilized for asylum.

Originally a Shia Muslim, he informed immigration officers that his curiosity in Christianity started shortly after his arrival in Britain when he was housed with an Iranian man who attended church and skim the Bible.

He began attending Grange Road Baptist Church that February and went on to full an Alpha course in Christianity, earlier than he was baptised in June 2018.

Since then he stated he had actively been engaged in avenue ministry handing out spiritual leaflets in Newcastle.

During a Home Office interview in 2019 he was unable to clarify his understanding of the Bible or its which means to immigration officers, despite claiming to have learn it for 3 years.

According to his account, he was shot in the leg by the Taliban at residence in Afghistan and his household residence was bombed – including that the punishment for changing in sharia legislation is execution.

But in 2017 Judge Gribble of the First-tier Tribunal discovered that inconsistencies in his account “painted a wholly unreliable and inconsistent picture, and one which lacked credibility”.

Judge Gribble stated he didn’t imagine his conversion was real and refused his asylum bid, including that his church attendance and baptism didn’t quantity to compelling proof that he would face an actual danger of persecution if returned to Afghanistan.

However at a recent enchantment listening to in in 2020, a distinct choose concluded Ezedi’s conversion was real despite issues about his honesty.

The tribunal additionally heard oral submissions from Reverend Roy Merrin, of the Grange Road Baptist church, in help of Ezedi.

In his proof the reverend acknowledged that he had beforehand attended Tribunals on 4 events in help of candidates for asylum primarily based upon Christian conversion – however insisted he solely supported these whose conversion was real.

In his ruling, Judge O’Hanlon stated: “Having considered all of the evidence before me in the round, notwithstanding my concerns as to the honesty of the Appellant in relation to certain aspects of his account, I find that the Appellant had been consistent in his evidence with regard to his conversion to Christianity.

“I found that the Appellant’s account of his conversion to Christianity was supported by the former Reverend Merrin who had known him for more than four years and who having seen the Appellant on a regular basis throughout that period was satisfied that the Appellant was a genuine Christian convert.

“Former Reverend Merrin was alive to the possibility of unjustifiable claims to Christian conversion being made but did not consider that this was the case with regard to the Appellant.

“Having taken all of these factors into account, I am satisfied to the lower standard of proof that the Appellant has undergone a genuine conversion from his former Muslim faith to Christianity and that accordingly, as was accepted by the Respondent in the Refusal letter, would be at risk in the event of return to Afghanistan. I therefore allow his asylum appeal.”

A nationwide manhunt was launched for Ezedi after his former accomplice and her two daughters, aged three and eight, have been doused in corrosive liquid in the horrifying chemical assault in Clapham, south London.

In all, 12 folks wanted hospital remedy after the “targeted” assault with an alkaline substance in Lessar Avenue on 31 January, which left the mom, 31, with accidents doubtless to be life-changing.

He is assumed to have travelled to the capital from Newcastle to perform the assault – which additionally left him with critical accidents to his face.

Searches have been finally known as off after detectives tracked the suspect to Chelsea Bridge on CCTV, the place he was seen leaning over the railings earlier than he’s believed to have plunged into the River Thames.

Last month, police confirmed a physique pulled from water was the 35-year-old suspect. The physique was discovered close to Tower Bridge on 19 February and he was later formally recognized at autopsy.

However questions have been raised over why Ezedi, initially from Afghanistan, was granted asylum despite being convicted of a sexual offence in 2018.

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed he was handed a suspended sentence 9 January 2018 after pleading responsible to one cost of sexual assault and one among publicity at Newcastle Crown Court. The 35-year-old was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years, however was allowed to stay in the UK as a result of his crimes weren’t critical sufficient to meet the edge for deportation.

He was turned down twice for asylum earlier than efficiently interesting in opposition to the Home Office rejection by claiming he had transformed to Christianity.

In the wake of the assault, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick known as for the house secretary to assessment Ezedi’s asylum case and take a look at “what may have gone seriously wrong”.

The right-wing Tory hardliner claimed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m afraid we do see, regularly, cases of people making spurious claims of converting to Christianity, aided and abetted by often well-meaning but naive vicars and priests.”

Shadow residence secretary Yvette Cooper additionally wrote to James Cleverly in regards to the “very serious questions which need to be answered about decision-making at the Home Office and the way his case was handled”.

Ms Cooper requested whether or not the Home Office had “considered deportation” in 2018 following Ezedi’s conviction, or if it made “representations” about his offending historical past when he was granted asylum.

She added: “It is of real concern that a convicted foreign national sex offender has been allowed to remain in the UK in these circumstances.”

However Amnesty International’s UK chief, Sacha Deshmukh, warned the assault “should not be used as a pretext to target people seeking asylum”.

A Home Office spokesperson stated: “All asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules. This means that religious conversions do not guarantee a grant of asylum.

“We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to help us to improve our policy guidance, training for asylum decision-makers, and to ensure we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way.”