Britain's top police officer has questioned claims that the prime suspect in the "Putney Pusher" case was innocent.
Nicholas Brandram, 44, was arrested in June, nine years after a jogger shoved a female pedestrian in front of a bus on Putney Bridge in west London. Mr Brandram was found dead at his home last month, while still under police investigation.
His sisters Alexia Hicks, 40, and Sophie Voelcker, 45, claimed that the army veteran provided police with evidence that cleared him, including an email sent 18 minutes after the 2017 incident. They say the Metropolitan placed him under unfair pressure by not investigating the case fairly.
Commissioner's response to family complaints
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told LBC's Nick Ferrari: "Every criminal suspect, of course they're under pressure, that is obvious. I'm not going to apologise for that."
"The thing that the family are saying is they're saying, 'Met, you were unreasonable. He was obviously innocent.' I'm not saying I necessarily agree with that, but we've got to review and look at their complaints alongside continuing the investigation."
Mr Brandram, a decorated former British Army Captain, was pronounced dead after police and paramedics attended an address in Chiswick, West London. The death is not believed to be suspicious, the Metropolitan Police said.
Investigation details and DNA evidence
Sir Mark said: "That Putney incident was awful, wasn't it? Somebody was pushed in… I mean, most people will have seen that ghastly incident. That poor person pushed in front of the bus, and it's extraordinary that the bus driver managed to avoid killing them. So, just a horrific moment. That case has been live all that time, and we had some new information, and that led us to treating that man as a suspect. The family have complained. When people complain, we have a duty to think about that complaint. We asked the independent office of police complaints if they wanted to look at it."
Mr Brandram's sisters said it was "ridiculous" that he was ever made a suspect, as he did not match the description of the pusher. They said he "willingly" provided a DNA sample two months before his death in an effort to clear his name and pleaded with police to speed up the results but never got them back. The sisters implied that the tests would have exonerated him.
Sir Mark said: "I think the DNA is not as significant as has been pretended in the media. If I was to give you a push now, Nick, we may get a bit of DNA off your jacket, but we probably wouldn't. So, even the absence of it wouldn't prove I didn't push you. So, it's not like some crime scene where there's lots of blood, etc, and you will get it. That's just one line of inquiry the officers have. That is not going to be the most critical line of inquiry, and the absence of DNA is not going to be the most definitive issue."
Family's evidence and alibi claims
The sisters claimed they provided evidence that the CCTV of the suspect did not look like their brother. They said: "The victim had apparently reported that the attacker had brown eyes. Our brother had very clear blue eyes. He had a prominent military tattoo on his forearm, which understandably would have been visible because the runner was wearing a T-shirt."
They also said their brother lived in Notting Hill, a few miles from Putney, at the time of the incident. The sisters said he sent an email from his work account while in his Bond Street office around four miles from the scene at 8.13am on May 5, 2017. The jogger was last seen by his victim at approximately 7.55am that morning.
They said: "He was unable to send emails outside of his desk...I provided an email from our brother at 8.13am which we know he sent from his Bond Street address. For those who don't know London, to go from Notting Hill Gate to Bond Street is miles and miles from Putney Bridge. He had no connection to Putney Bridge at the time."
The investigation continues.
