Image source, Metropolitan Police Image caption,

Police have been searching for Abdul Shokoor Ezedi for more than a week

By Natasha Preskey & Sam Hancock

BBC News

Police are to search the River Thames for the body of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, the Clapham chemical attack suspect.

Detectives believe the 35-year-old went into the water near Chelsea Bridge in west London on the night of the attack, after walking "with purpose" for hours.

CCTV footage shows him pacing and leaning over the bridge before he disappears from view, police said.

Ezedi is suspected of dousing a mother and her daughters with an alkaline substance on the night of 31 January.

He was last seen at 23:27 GMT, on Chelsea Bridge, about four hours after the attack in Clapham, south London. He was never seen leaving the bridge area.

At a briefing on Friday, Metropolitan Police officers said the search of the Thames would involve boats from the Marine Policing Unit - and would take place at low tide.

They warned that at this time of year the Thames was very fast flowing and full of snags, and that it was possible Ezedi's body may never surface.