Brandram was arrested in June 2024 after police linked him to the 2017 incident on Putney Bridge in which a woman was shoved into the path of an oncoming bus by a jogger captured on CCTV. The Metropolitan Police announced earlier this month that he had been released under investigation, but the probe remained open.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Brandram’s family said he had taken his own life after “months of immense pressure” caused by the ongoing police inquiry, and they blamed the investigation for his death. They also asserted that the police had failed to conduct basic investigative work that should have been done by the force itself.
The family listed five items they say prove Brandram was not the man seen in the footage: his blue eyes versus the victim’s description of brown eyes; a visibly wasted and disfigured calf from a prior army injury that the suspect in the video did not have; a prominent forearm tattoo absent from the CCTV images; the fact that police never arranged an identification parade despite his willingness to attend; and email records from his West End office that they claim place him in London’s Bond Street area at the time of the assault.
Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Dan Knowles expressed condolences to Brandram’s relatives and reiterated that the investigation remains ongoing. He explained that, although Brandram was released under investigation, officers continue to pursue outstanding lines of enquiry and forensic examinations, a process that can take several months.
Following Brandram’s death, the Met made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on 16 September, as required whenever a person dies after previous contact with police. The IOPC will review the force’s handling of the case, including the family’s allegations that the investigation contributed to his suicide.