We're closing our coverage, for now, of the hunt for Abdul Shokoor Ezedi - the man who is suspected of throwing a harmful chemical substance on a 31-year-old woman and her young daughters in Clapham last week.

Here's what we learnt today:

• The Metropolitan Police say the woman's injuries are so bad that she is still sedated and she hasn't been able to talk to them

• Ezedi and the victim were previously in a relationship which broke down. He arranged to meet her on the day of the attack
• Police said Ezedi has a large burn mark on his face which could be serious or even fatal if it becomes infected
• The Met have tried to glean some information from the woman's daughters who are three and eight, but they have to treat them with sensitivity

You can read our latest news story here.

A short while ago the Metropolitan Police released more footage of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi on the night of the attack.

Here he is seen at 22:33 GMT on Wednesday 31 January walking south on Westminster Bridge.

The police ask the public to call 020 7175 2784, or 999 for an immediate sighting. A £20,000 reward is on offer for information leading to Ezedi’s arrest.

Image source, Metropolitan Police

This is the last seen image of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, the man suspected of throwing a chemical substance on a 31-year-old woman and her young daughters in Clapham, south London, last week.

The picture shows him walking along the Albert Embankment approaching Vauxhall Bridge on the night of the attack.

The man suspected of carrying out an attack on three people in London has "very significant" injuries which could be fatal if not treated, Cmdr Jon Savell says.

Officers are still hunting the man - Abdul Shokoor Ezedi - a week after a woman and her two children were attacked with a corrosive substance in Clapham.

The woman, who remains sedated in hospital, is believed to have agreed to a meeting with the attacker, Cmdr Jon Savell says.

Hundreds of members of the public have contacted the police with sightings of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, says Commander Jon Savell.

The manhunt has been helped by the fact Ezedi has a "very distinctive" facial injury.

But BBC's Mark Easton put it to Savell that people will be surprised that Ezedi seems to have disappeared in one of the most well-surveilled cities in the world.

"It takes a long time to track CCTV because you have to work out which way he's gone," says Savell.

The police have "painstakingly" gone through "hundreds and hundreds of hours of CCTV", and he is "as confident as I can be" that Ezedi will be caught.

Esme Stallard
Science reporter

Police said earlier this week that they had narrowed down the corrosive substance used in last week's attack to two strong alkalis.

It's worth remembering that alkalis are not difficult to come by - they can be found in many common household items, from bicarbonate of soda to drain cleaner.

But not all of these substances are harmful to human health - it depends how strong they are.

Weak alkalis are unlikely to cause any harm. In fact they can be consumed, such as baking soda in cakes. It's products that contain strong alkalis, such as sodium hydroxide, that cause damage, external - these are most commonly used in strong household cleaners and the paper industry.

A common misconception is that it's only acids which are corrosive, but strong alkalis like this can also cause serious damage to humans.

Depending on how long you are exposed, the type of exposure (ingestion or skin contact) and the dose, it can cause severe burns to tissue, accumulation of fluid in the lungs and blindness.

Image source, Getty Images

We've just had an update on the police investigation into last week's alkali attack on a woman and her two daughters in Clapham, south London. Here's what we now know:

• Police believe Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, the prime suspect, and the 31-year-old injured women were in a relationship that had broken down - they wouldn't give any detail about how long the relationship had lasted or why it ended
• Ezedi arranged to meet the woman on the day of the attack and she agreed - the two of them and her children were all in the car when the attack took place
• The woman remains sedated in hospital and unable to talk to police. (We were told on Monday that both children had been discharged)
• A new last-known sighting of Ezedi has been shared - CCTV caught him on Vauxhall Bridge Road at 23:00 GMT on the night of the attack, but police admitted he could now be "north, east, south, west or he could have gone abroad"
• Hundreds of calls have been made to police to aid the investigation, and an Afghan community charity has urged Ezedi to hand himself in

Nasimi, from the Afghan charity, stresses that this attack is "not a reflection of the people of Afghanistan who are in the UK".

He says he understands people's "frustrations" surrounding Ezedi "being an asylum seeker" - and around "claims" about him converting to Christianity.

But he hopes anyone with information about Ezedi's whereabouts will come forwards.

Nasimi also appeals directly to Ezedi to hand himself in to the police, saying "this has gone on long enough".

That's it from the police briefing - we'll bring you a round-up of the key things to know next.

Image source, Facebook

At the Met Police briefing, which we've been bringing you in these last few posts, we also heard from Darius Nasimi - of the charity Afghanistan and Central Asian Association.

He says his organisation is working closely with the Met Police to make sure the Afghan community are reached as widely as possible.

"Violence against women and girls cannot be tolerated," he says, before issuing a plea for anyone harbouring Ezedi or helping him to avoid capture to come forward.

As a reminder, Ezedi is originally from Afghanistan but lives in Newcastle in north-east England.

Police go on to address Ezedi's medical condition, saying his injuries appear "very significant" and could even be fatal if not treated.

Det Supt says police believe Ezedi has not been to hospital - and that hospitals are advised to "remain on high alert", as well as the public.

Earlier, the BBC's Callum May interviewed a burns expert who said something slightly different about Ezedi's injuries. You can read that here.

The officers giving that update also commended the public, saying police have received hundreds of calls to aid their investigation.

He says more than 200 calls have been made to the dedicated line, 200 more to the Metropolitan Police generally, and 200 more to Crimestoppers and other sources.

Earlier this week, police offered a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the arrest of Abdul Shokoor Ezedi.

Image source, Met Police

We also heard from Det Supt Rick Sewart at the Met Police briefing - he says there'll be an "anniversary appeal" made tonight to mark a week since the attack.

At 19:25 GMT, the time the attack took place last Wednesday, police are inviting people in the community who may have seen what happened to come forward.

Police say that the woman injured, 31, remains sedated and in hospital.

There was no specific update given on the condition of her right eye, which police warned on Monday she could lose sight from entirely.

The woman's condition has not changed and she is, as yet, unable to speak to the police, Cmdr Jon Savell adds.

We're still bringing you the latest from a Met Police briefing about the hunt for Ezedi, which finished a few minutes ago and took place off camera.

Cmdr Savell says there are many theories about where the suspect could have escaped to:

He adds there is always the possibility that Ezedi could have gone into the River Thames - but again says there have been no reports of anyone entering the river and no bodies have been recovered that match his.

Image source, Met Police

The Met's Cmdr Savell says police now have a new last location for Ezedi, still on Wednesday.

CCTV shows him crossing Vauxhall Bridge and onto Vauxhall Bridge Road at 23:00 GMT on Wednesday.

He points out that it takes "a very long time" to "carefully" look at all the cameras and footage, and to make sure that "all the turns and changes of direction he makes" are not missed.

Hundreds of specialist crime and Counter Terrorism fugitive specialist officers are working on this, he adds.

Police also reveal that Ezedi arranged to meet the woman who went on to be injured in the attack, and she agreed.

Ezedi, the woman and her two children were all in the car when the attack took place, police say.

We've just had an update from the Metropolitan Police - it was an off-camera, on the record briefing, which we'll bring you in the next few posts.

Cmdr Jon Savell says the police now have a "very strong indication" that Abdul Shokoor Ezedi was in a relationship with the woman he's thought to have injured in the attack last week.

He says that police believe the relationship had "broken down".

"We can’t give any details about how long the relationship had taken place or how it broke down," he adds.

Police have spotted Abdul Shokoor Ezedi on CCTV in nearly a dozen locations across London, all on the day of the attack.

Take a look at all the places he's been seen below:

Image source, .

Callum May
BBC News

Image source, Metropolitan Police

I've been speaking to a burns expert who says Abdul Shokoor Ezedi can likely survive the injuries he appears to have caused to himself during the attack in Clapham last week.

Prof Peter Dziewulski, a consultant plastic surgeon, says from CCTV images the police have released, Ezedi's burn seems severe in terms of depth but not size.

“Unless it got infected it would not be a threat to his life,” Prof Dziewulski, who's also a spokesman for the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, tells me.

He says if Ezedi's in hiding, he'll be able to wash the injury and treat it with burns creams available from a high street chemist or supermarket. He also says he's known of chemical burns cases in rural African countries, where people got to medical care only two or three weeks after they were injured.

Police have said the type of chemical used in the attack was a strong alkali.

"Alkalis tend to be worse," Prof Dziewulski says. "They are what we call lipophilic which means they melt through fat and tissue."

A new court document, obtained on Tuesday by BBC News, has revealed more details about Abdul Shokoor Ezedi's previously known sexual assault and exposure convictions, to which he pleaded guilty in 2018.

Ezedi was sentenced for grabbing a woman’s bottom without her consent in 2017, the document shows. He also pleaded guilty to exposing himself in public on 5 June of the same year.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work when he was handed a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court on 9 January 2018, as previously reported.

Ezedi was later granted asylum after two failed attempts. He was allowed to stay in the country after a church confirmed he had converted to Christianity.