Police hope new play about the ‘Putney Pusher’ can help restart investigation

Case was closed in 2018 without finding assailant but it is hoped ‘Once Upon a Bridge’ will prompt fresh clues to culprit’s identity

When a jogger on London’s Putney Bridge was caught by CCTV as he callously pushed a stranger into the path of a double decker bus seven years ago, the act of random violence stunned the world. Shocking still images from the footage appeared on the front pages of international newspapers and, in the following months, leagues of amateur online detectives scrutinised the running style of the anonymous offender, from his clenched fists to his straight back, for clues to the identity of the “Putney Pusher”.

Only the driver of the number 430 bus, Olivier Salbris, came forward publicly. As he drove over the Thames that day in early May he had averted disaster by swiftly swerving away from the 33-year-old female pedestrian and so he was widely saluted, appearing on morning television show sofas. But the true cause of the strange incident remains a mystery.