Met chief Rowley defends Putney Pusher inquiry after suspect Nicholas Brandram's death

Mixed · 2Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley addressed the investigation into the "Putney Pusher" case on LBC on Thursday 8 October, after the death of suspect Nicholas Brandram. 1 2 Mixed · 2Brandram, 44, a banker and former Army officer, was arrested in June in connection with a 2017 incident on Putney Bridge in which a jogger shoved a woman headfirst into the path of an oncoming bus; he was released under investigation. 1 2 Centre · 1He was found dead at a property in Chiswick, west London, last month; on 15 September he missed a family meal and his brother-in-law found him in an upstairs room, and he was pronounced dead at 8.58pm. 1

Mixed · 2At an inquest opened and suspended on 22 September at West London Coroner's Court, the coroner said the death was not considered suspicious and there was "no evidence of third-party involvement"; a full inquest will be held later. 1 2 Centre · 1A statement on behalf of his immediate family said he "took his own life after months of immense pressure caused by a Metropolitan Police investigation"; the Met referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which said the Met should investigate itself over the arrest, including its necessity and proportionality, dealings with the media and his welfare. 1 Mixed · 2Rowley said the case had been live throughout and that new information led police to treat Brandram as a suspect. He said every criminal suspect is under pressure and "I'm not going to apologise for that". 1 2

Left · 1Of the family's view that the Met was unreasonable and Brandram was obviously innocent, Rowley said he was not saying he "necessarily agree[d]" but that the Met must review the complaints alongside continuing the investigation. 2 Mixed · 2His sisters, Alexia Hicks, 40, and Sophie Voelcker, 45, say Brandram did not match the description of the attacker, citing blue eyes against the reported brown, a prominent military tattoo on his forearm, and an email sent from his Bond Street office at 8.13am on 5 May 2017, with the jogger last seen at about 7.55am. They also say he gave a DNA sample about two months before his death and never received the result. 2 1 Centre · 1Rowley said the DNA was "not as significant as has been pretended in the media", since a push may leave no recoverable DNA and its absence would not prove innocence, and that it was just one line of inquiry. It remains unclear whether the sample has been processed. 1

Mixed · 2Asked whether the Putney Pusher could still be at large, Rowley said "We have a suspect, he died, family have complained", and when host Nick Ferrari suggested the Met did not know, replied it "could be the person we're investigating". The Met says the investigation continues. 1 2