Putney Pusher mystery takes another dark turn

Suspect arrested nine years after the notorious attack has died without ever being charged

One of London's strangest unsolved crime mysteries has taken another extraordinary turn after the man arrested earlier this year in connection with the notorious “Putney Pusher” attack was found dead at his west London home.

Nicholas Brandram, 44, was discovered unresponsive at his property in Chiswick on Tuesday evening, just months after detectives finally arrested him over the 2017 incident.

The Metropolitan Police said his death was unexpected but was not believed to be suspicious. A file will now be prepared for the coroner.

Brandram had never been charged over the Putney Bridge attack.

That distinction is important.

He was arrested in June on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm after detectives reopened a case that had remained unsolved for almost a decade. He was subsequently released under investigation and remained under police investigation until his death.

The mystery that shocked London

On May 4, 2017, CCTV captured a jogger apparently pushing a 33-year-old woman into the path of an approaching double-decker bus on Putney Bridge.

The bus driver, Oliver Salbris, reacted at the last possible moment and swerved.

The woman survived with minor injuries.

The footage was extraordinary because the attack appeared completely unprovoked. The jogger simply continued running, and when the woman later tried to confront him, he ignored her and carried on.

Police interviewed around 50 men and arrested three suspects during the original investigation, but nobody was charged. The case was eventually closed in 2018.

Then, nine years later, everything changed.

Why was Brandram arrested?

On June 15 this year, detectives arrested Brandram at his west London home.

Police said new information had led to the arrest, but the precise nature of that information has not been publicly established. He was also subsequently arrested over suspected possession of Class A and Class B drugs before being released under investigation.

Brandram was a former British Army officer who served in Afghanistan and later built a career in private banking. Other reports have also highlighted his royal ancestry, including his descent from Queen Victoria.

But there was never a trial, never a conviction and never a public finding that he was the man caught on CCTV.

Now he is dead.

A mystery that may never be solved

The police investigation into the original attack had already become one of London's most enduring mysteries.

The latest arrest appeared to offer detectives their strongest breakthrough in years.

Instead, the death of the man under investigation has left the case facing another unanswered question: will police ever be able to establish who the Putney Bridge jogger really was?

For now, the official position remains clear — Brandram was a suspect, not a convicted offender, and police do not believe his death was suspicious.

But after nine years of investigation, one of Britain's strangest cold cases has just become stranger still.

Sources: ITV News / Sky News / The Guardian

I wonder if the "new information" will now be released..........very weird case from start to finish.