Family of Putney Pusher suspect Nicholas Brandram insist it wasn’t him after he was found dead

The family of Nicholas Brandram have insisted he was not the ‘Putney pusher’ and blamed the Metropolitan Police for his death.

His relatives said in a statement that Brandram ‘took his own life after months of immense pressure caused by a Metropolitan Police investigation’.

Brandram was found dead in his London home three months after he was arrested in connection with the Putney pusher case.

His family has claimed there was no forensic evidence linking Brandram to the unidentified jogger who was in a video shoving a woman into the path of a bus in May 2017.

In a statement, his family 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.’

In May 2017, the ‘Putney Pusher’ pushed a woman in front of a bus on Putney Bridge in London, and his identity has remained unknown ever since.

The driver of the bus managed to swerve out of the way and avoid hitting the 33-year-old woman, but shocking CCTV footage sparked a years-long manhunt to find the pusher.

Brandram was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm and released on bail in June this year over the case.

A day later, he was re-arrested after having Class A and Class B drugs.

Detectives confirmed last week that a suspect they did not name had been released under investigation while ‘outstanding enquiries were being completed’.

The investigation remains ongoing, the Metropolitan Police said, following Mr Brandram’s death.

In their statement, Brandram’s family claimed his lawyers ‘did the basic investigative work that should be done’ by Met office after his arrest.

The family claimed claimed: ‘They pointed out that the published images of the man involved in the assault bore no resemblance to Nick: the victim had described the attacker as having brown eyes; Nick had distinctive blue eyes. Nick had a visibly wasted and disfigured calf dating back to his time serving with the Army, while the man shown in the footage did not.

‘And Nick had a prominent forearm tattoo which was not visible on the man in the images’.

The statement continued: ‘Nick made it clear he was keen to take part in an identification parade, but the police never organized one.

‘He also provided email evidence sent from his office in the West End, demonstrating that he was not even on Putney Bridge when the assault happened.’

Brandram’s loved ones said when ‘the evidence showed they [the Met] had the wrong man’, the ‘urgency’ from officers ‘disappeared’.

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 recognized was unsupported by the evidence.

‘He lived with the shame, anxiety, humiliation and extraordinary pressure created by a wholly unnecessary investigation.’

Nick’s family said the police were repeatedly warned about the impact of the investigation on Brandram’s mental health and asked to end their inquiries.

The family continued: ‘Even then, the investigation was not brought to an end. As a result, Nick is dead.’

The Metropolitan Police has now referred itself to the police watchdog over its contact with Bandram, the IOPC has confirmed.

Brandram was a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and worked at HSBC’s private banking branch before he was suspended after his arrest.

He also served as a former British Army captain in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.

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