Alkali attack suspect Abdul Ezedi is believed to have “gone into” the River Thames, the Metropolitan Police said.

The force said on Friday its main working hypothesis is that the 35-year-old had “gone into the water”, but no body had been found.

Ezedi, from the Newcastle area, is accused of pouring a strong alkali on his ex-partner, and injuring her two young children, aged three and eight, on Wednesday January 31 in Clapham, south London.

The woman had been in a relationship with Ezedi, with the breakdown of the relationship a possible motive for the attack.

A manhunt to find him has been ongoing for more than a week, with officers raiding two addresses linked to Ezedi in Newcastle in the early hours of Thursday.

Earlier this week police said the last confirmed sighting was just before 11.30pm on January 31, a few hours after the attack, as he crossed over Chelsea Bridge and entered Battersea Park in central London, then crossed back over the same bridge minutes later.