A 33-year-old woman was thrown into the path of a double-decker bus on Putney Bridge in May 2017. The driver, Oliver Salbris, swerved at the last minute. “If I hadn’t swerved, I would have smashed her head,” he told the Sunday Times later. “It was reflex. The consequences would have been terrible for her – and for me.”
Nine years after the attack that sparked a nationwide manhunt, police have arrested a 44-year-old millionaire banker. The suspect, who also worked at a private bank and is a former British Army officer with ties to several European royal families, was taken into custody on 15 June. The Met Police said he was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm. Once in custody, he was also arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A and Class B drugs. He has since been bailed pending further investigation.
“Millionaire banker arrested nine years after Putney Bridge push almost killed woman”
According to the Times, information from a former partner was instrumental in securing the arrest. The case had gone cold after years of investigation. Police previously released CCTV footage of a jogger in grey pushing the woman onto the road. A double-decker bus narrowly missed her. The jogger returned, ignoring the victim as she confronted him, and disappeared. A massive manhunt followed, with 50 people of interest investigated. One arrested banker from Chelsea was found to be on holiday in California at the time. Eventually, the Metropolitan Police closed the investigation with no charges.
Interest in the case revived after a play called Once Upon a Bridge was performed at the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes, south west London. Then, six days ago, officers acting on the ex-partner’s information arrested the suspect. A Met spokesperson said: “On Monday, 15 June, a 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm. The arrest relates to an incident on 5 May 2017, where a woman was pushed into the path of a bus on Putney Bridge in Putney. … He has since been bailed pending further investigation in relation to all offences.”
Now the question remains whether, after nearly a decade, justice will be done.