Chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi was given a Muslim funeral service despite claiming he had converted to Christianity.
The 35-year-old allegedly attacked a family in Clapham, south London with a corrosive substance.
Now, new footage has shown his funeral was allegedly held at a mosque in west London before he was given a Muslim burial at a ceremony in east London on March 11.
Ezedi was subject to a nationwide manhunt after he allegedly poured chemicals on his former partner and her children in January. His body was later found in the Thames.
Ezedi was reportedly given a Muslim burial
BBC/Met Police
The Muslim funeral director, who did not want to be named, told the BBC: "As a funeral director, we don’t look into people’s past, we look at how we can help in a situation. Our job was just to provide a dignified burial for the deceased."
Ezedi arrived in the UK on January 8, 2016, but his initial asylum claim was refused by the Home Office, with an appeal later rejected by the courts the following year, according to the documents.
He was handed a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court on January 9, 2018, after pleading guilty to charges of sexual assault and exposure, instead being placed on the sex offender register for 10 years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
Just over a year later, on March 19, 2019, he challenged the decision again by lodging an appeal with the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), arguing he feared persecution because of his religion. The papers confirm his claim was granted after a hearing in Newcastle on October 28, 2020.
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Abdul Ezedi being baptised in June 2018
PA/Tribunals Judiciary
Ezedi was "prepared to deceive" and "use religion for his own ends" and had been unable to demonstrate a "clear understanding of Christian principles and beliefs", according to court records of the Home Office’s submissions.
Now, MPs have criticised both the Government and the church for the way Ezedi's case was handled. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Home Secretary James Cleverly needed to explain why the sex offender was able to remain in the country two years after his first asylum claim was rejected.
The MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford said: "The latest disturbing revelations about the Abdul Ezedi case raise some serious and urgent questions for the Home Office.
"The Home Secretary must explain why his department failed to remove Ezedi from the UK in the two years after his first asylum claim was rejected - particularly after he was convicted of sexual offences."
Abdul Ezedi (left) handing out church leaflets in the street
PA
Reform MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, said: "There have been failings by the church and actually the appeals panel are at fault as well. The good news is if you enter this country illegally and then go on to commit horrific sex crimes you can bank on a church and the whole asylum process to come down on your side and grant you asylum.
"The church is knowingly going to a tribunal, knowing full well this man is a sex offender."
Meanwhile, a minister has claimed that the Government’s Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will help to prevent future cases similar to that of Ezedi once it becomes law.
The Bill is currently caught in a legislative tussle between the House of Commons and the House of Lords over concerns about human rights and judicial oversight.
Science minister Andrew Griffith told Sky News: "We can’t run an asylum system based on credulous clerics and lefty lawyers. That is why we are fundamentally reforming it."