The family of Nicholas Brandram have released a statement after he was found dead in his West London home yesterday
The family of Nicholas Brandram have insisted he was not the so-called “Putney pusher” and said he “took his own life after months of immense pressure caused by a Metropolitan Police investigation”.
Nicholas was arrested nine years after a jogger shoved a woman headfirst into the path of an oncoming bus. The 44-year-old man, named in the media as banker Nicholas Brandram, was found dead in his Hounslow home yesterday (16 September).
Mr Brandram, 44, was found unresponsive inside a property in Chiswick, Hounslow on Tuesday evening – believed to be the former banker’s west London home.
The Metropolitan Police said he had been released under investigation following his arrest over the incident on May 5 2017.
Mr Brandram’s family said there was no forensic evidence linking the 44-year-old banker to the 2017 incident in which a jogger shoved a woman headfirst into the path of an oncoming bus on Putney Bridge in south-west London.
In a statement, they said: “There was no forensic evidence linking Nick to it, no evidence placing him on Putney Bridge at that time, and no credible evidence that he was the man shown in the footage. In fact, the evidence proved the opposite.
“Despite that, the police chose to arrest Nick rather than invite him to attend for interview. They searched his home and the Met Police press team then released information which inevitably led to speculation and Nick being identified in subsequent reporting.”
The family added: “For Nick, the consequences did not disappear. He was left for months carrying the stigma of an appalling allegation which the police themselves clearly recognised was unsupported by the evidence.
“He lived with the shame, anxiety, humiliation and extraordinary pressure created by a wholly unnecessary investigation.”
They said the police were repeatedly asked to end their investigation and warned about the impact the investigation was having on Mr Brandram’s mental health, saying: “Even then, the investigation was not brought to an end. As a result, Nick is dead.”
The incident saw a jogger filmed running past a man before lashing out at the female pedestrian on May 5 2017. Bus driver Oliver Salbris managed to swerve to avoid crushing the woman, telling the Sunday Times: “If I hadn’t swerved, I would have smashed her head.
“It was reflex. The consequences would have been terrible for her – and for me.”
It was reported at the time that around 15 minutes after the push, the jogger came back the other way across the bridge, and ignored the victim when she tried to speak to him.
Detectives identified more than 50 people of interest in their investigation before closing the probe in 2018, saying that all lines of inquiry had been exhausted.
