This cold case baffled the UK for nine years. The main suspect has just been found dead
A millionaire banker related to royalty who was under investigation for allegedly pushing a woman in front of a London bus has been found dead.
Nicholas Brandram, 44, the alleged “Putney Pusher”, was found dead at his home in Chiswick, west London, on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST). Police said his death was being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious.
Brandram, a direct descendant of Queen Victoria, was arrested in June following a tip-off in the notorious 2017 case in which a jogger pushed a 33-year-old woman in front of an oncoming bus on Putney Bridge.
CCTV footage of the incident captured the moment when bus driver Oliver Salbris managed to swerve slightly at the last minute, narrowly missing the woman’s head, while the jogger ran on.
Salbris told The Sunday Times following the incident: “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.”
Police interviewed 50 men and made three arrests at the time, but despite CCTV footage and a witness reportedly confronting the suspect when he jogged back across the bridge minutes later, no one was ever charged. The investigation was closed in 2018.
But in June, after new information came to light, Brandram was detained and questioned by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm and possessing class A and class B drugs.
He had been released last week under investigation, police confirmed.
Brandram was a decorated army captain who later worked as a director at HSBC. He was also a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark.
More to come.
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