An inquest has opened into the death of Nicholas Brandram, a 44-year-old banker found deceased at his home in Chiswick, west London, on September 15. Brandram had been arrested in June in connection with the “Putney Pusher” incident, which occurred on May 5, 2017, when a jogger pushed a woman in front of an oncoming double-decker bus on Putney Bridge.

According to Coroner Melanie Lee, Brandram missed a planned family meal on the evening of his death. Concerned family members sent his brother-in-law to check on him, who accessed the property using a spare key obtained from a neighbor and found Brandram unresponsive upstairs. Paramedics attended the scene, but Brandram was pronounced dead at 8:58 p.m. The coroner stated that the death was not considered suspicious and that there was no evidence of third-party involvement.

Brandram’s family, who attended the inquest at West London Coroner’s Court, maintain his innocence. They have criticized the Metropolitan Police for failing to clear his name and emphasized the absence of forensic evidence linking him to the May 2017 incident. The family also pointed out that there is no credible evidence placing Brandram at Putney Bridge at the time of the pushing.

The coroner noted that the inquest will not examine issues of criminal guilt or civil liability, stressing that an inquest is not a trial and that no individuals or organizations are being held to account in this proceeding. She offered her sincere condolences to Brandram’s family and confirmed that the inquest would be adjourned pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation.

The Metropolitan Police have referred the matter of their contact with Brandram to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is currently reviewing the case. The suspension of the inquest is considered appropriate until that review is concluded.

The 2017 Putney incident was caught on video showing a jogger shoving a 33-year-old woman headfirst into the path of an oncoming bus. Brandram, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was arrested nine years later and released under investigation at the time of his death. His family has attributed the “intense pressure” stemming from the investigation as a factor in his demise.