Nigel Farage has taken a brutal swipe at the Church of England after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the Clapham acid attack was not about asylum. Abdul Ezedi, who is thought to have arrived in the UK from Afghanistan on the back of a lorry in 2016, claimed to have converted to Christianity, which would have put him at risk after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Detectives urged Ezedi, who lives in the Newcastle area, to hand himself in after he went on the run following Wednesday’s attack on a 31-year-old mum and her daughters in south London.
Mr Farage responded to Mrs Keegan’s remark in an X post in which he claimed: “This attack has everything to do with asylum. And the Church of England.”
The Church of England has said it is unaware of any links between Ezedi and its churches, with a spokesperson adding it is “the role of the Home Office, and not the church, to vet asylum seekers and judge the merits of their individual cases”.
The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle said in a statement it found nothing to suggest Ezedi had become a Catholic but checks were continuing.
The diocese confirmed Ezedi visited its diocesan Justice and Peace Refugee Project. It added: “After checking local parish records and central records and after consulting with clergy we have no indication that Abdul Ezedi was received into the Catholic faith in this diocese or that a Catholic priest of this diocese gave him a reference.
“We do not know which Christian church received him nor which Christian minister gave him a reference.”
Questions also still remain as to how Ezedi, who was granted asylum in the UK after two failed attempts, was able to stay in Britain despite being convicted of a sex offence.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed he was handed a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court on January 9, 2018, after pleading guilty to one charge of sexual assault and one of exposure. He was put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
Mrs Keegan told Sky News “we need to get to the bottom of” why Ezedi, 35, was able to stay in the UK.
Mr Farage’s criticism online comes as he and Tory MPs rounded on the Church of England after the emergence of a document which showed vicars have received advice on how to mount personal campaigns in the event of asylum claims being refused.
Mr Farage said the Church of England should reflect on its name and purpose, adding: “The left-wing [Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby] is bad enough, but these revelations show a stunning naivety.
“The document seems to suggest British identity, rights and values are a bad thing. They are exactly what the church should be endorsing.”
Red Wall MP Jonathan Gullis claimed “Woke Welby” has enabled political activists within the Church to help illegal economic migrants secure the right to permanently remain in the UK.
Former Tory Chairman Lee Anderson wondered how many of the newly converted Christians would turn up on a Sunday morning once their asylum claim has been approved.
