The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the police watchdog over its contact with Nicholas Brandram, the man investigated over the 2017 Putney Bridge push who died earlier this week.
The Met told Putney.news the referral was made on 16 September, the day after Brandram’s death and before his family issued a public statement blaming the force’s investigation for it.
Nicholas Brandram, 44, was found dead at his home in Chiswick on Tuesday. In a statement on Thursday, his family said: “Nick took his own life after months of immense pressure caused by a Metropolitan Police investigation into whether he was the so-called ‘Putney Pusher’. He was not.”
“The Met police knew he was not,” the family said. “And yet, when Nick died, they had still failed formally to clear his name.”
An Independent Office for Police Conduct spokesperson told Putney.news: “We have received a mandatory referral from the Met Police relating to prior contact officers had with Nicholas Brandram, who was sadly found unresponsive and declared deceased on 15 September. We are currently assessing the referral before deciding whether further action is required from us.”
Case still under investigation
Chief Superintendent Dan Knowles, in charge of policing for south-west London, told Putney.news: “Our thoughts are with Mr Brandram’s family and friends at this deeply distressing time… The investigation remains ongoing. Following Mr Brandram’s release under investigation, it was made clear that enquiries would continue while officers progressed outstanding lines of enquiry and forensic examinations. This remains the position, and further investigative work is ongoing.
Investigations of this nature, particularly those involving complex evidential and forensic work, can take a number of months to complete.”
The Met said officers were contacted by an individual with new information in April, which led them to review CCTV and take further statements, resulting in Brandram’s arrest on 15 June. It said an assessment concluded that arrest, rather than a voluntary interview, was “necessary and proportionate in order to seize devices and carry out further searches.” The Met said it did not name Brandram at the time, and has not done so itself even now.
The family point to specific evidence they say the Met has not accounted for. They say Brandram gave a DNA sample within days of his arrest, but that the force has still not finalised the analysis or explained the delay. They say he offered to take part in an identification parade, which was never organised, and gave email evidence placing him at his office in the West End at the time of the 2017 incident, handed to police, they say, within days of his arrest rather than “months later.”
The family allege that after searching Brandram’s home, the Met’s own press office “released information which inevitably led to speculation” about his identity online. They said his lawyers “did the basic investigative work that should have been done by the Met Police.”
The family said they had repeatedly asked the Met to end the investigation and warned officers about the effect it was having on Brandram’s mental health. “Even then, the investigation was not brought to an end,” they said. “As a result, Nick is dead.”
Released under investigation means a person is no longer subject to bail conditions or a requirement to return on a set date, the Met said, but it carries no formal step that clears a person’s name. Only a decision of no further action does that, and none had been made when Brandram died.
Brandram was not named by the police after his June arrest, though his identity was well known within the media. National outlets, as well as Putney.news, did not name him despite it circulating widely on social media at the time. We did name him, along with national outlets including the BBC and The Times, after his death this week.
The 2017 incident
The case that started it all remains unsolved. A jogger pushed a woman into the path of a bus on Putney Bridge on 5 May 2017. The Met made extensive enquiries over several years without charging anyone, closed the case in 2018, and reopened it in April this year after new information came in.
The woman who was pushed has never been publicly named. Nine years on, nobody has been charged.
If you’ve been affected by anything in this story, Samaritans are available free, any time, on 116 123.
