Police had email proving 'Putney Pusher' suspect was innocent, family claim

An email allegedly proving the innocence of the prime suspect in the "Putney Pusher" case was ignored by police before he killed himself, his sisters have claimed.

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.

The wealthy banker was found dead at his home on Tuesday, 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.

Describing his arrest, Ms Hicks told the BBC on Friday: "My brother woke up to a large handful of police officers wearing armed vests and with a film crew on the doorstep from the media.

"So, this came completely out of the blue, off effectively an allegation which must have been either malicious or mistaken."

The sisters said it was "ridiculous" that Mr Brandram was ever made a suspect, as he did not match the description of the pusher.

They said: "We provided evidence very quickly to show that this did not look like our brother. He had a withered leg from an injury sustained back from when he'd been in the army.

"The victim had apparently reported that the attacker had 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 told the BBC: "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."