Bogus conversions: In Ezedi's case 'the consequences were appalling'

CHEMICAL attacker Abdul Ezedi was given asylum despite concerns over lying about This past, failing a Christianity test and being a sex offender.

- Paul Jeeves

A judge accepted that his religious conversion was genuine even though he gave wrong answers to basic questions about the Christian faith. Ezedi, 35, died after attacking a mum and her two girls with corrosive liquid.

In a Home Office interview to test his conversion he blundered that the Old Testament was about Jesus and that Jacob was a disciple.

Despite this, asylum was granted - with a vicar's supportive testimony cited as "compelling".

Home Secretary James Cleverly has held an emergency meeting with senior clergy as the conversion scandal highlighted by a Daily Express investigation threatens to spiral out of control.

A source close to him said last night: "We wanted to relay the potential damage to those churches of being seen, rightly or wrongly, as acting against the integrity of our asylum system where Christian conversion has been brought up at appeal. In this case the consequences were appalling."

Afghanistan-born Ezedi, who entered the UK illegally in a lorry in 2016, was allowed to continue attending his adopted Baptist church under a deal requiring him to be supervised at all times for the safety of the congregation.