New 'Putney Pusher' play hopes to find culprit who shoved woman, 33, in front of bus in 2017
7 April 2024, 22:06 | Updated: 11 April 2024, 08:09
Detectives investigating the 'Putney Pusher' hope a new play will help solve the cold case of a man shoving a woman under a bus in south-west London.
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CCTV footage of a jogger casually pushing a pedestrians into the path of a double-decker bus on Putney Bridge, London, shocked the public when it emerged in May 2017.
The driver of the 430 bus avoided the 33-year-old victim and later came forward as the only witness in the case.
Met Police CCTV shows 'Putney Pusher' jogging along bridge
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Police closed the case after interviewing 50 suspects one year later.
The play One Upon a Bridge will be seen at the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes - just two miles after from the site of the crime.
Police arrested two people in connection with the investigation but both were released without charge.
Lydia Sax, artistic director at the OSO, told the Guardian" "I often wonder why that one individual act mattered so much to so many.
"The severity of the attack was part of it, I think. And the fact it was never solved.'
The show's playwright, Sonya Kelly, added: "When you look at the CCTV closely there’s a moment you can freeze-frame where the two figures almost seem to waltz together before he pushes her over. I kept thinking about that.
"But, in fact, of course, he nearly killed her. He must have known that she fell, but doesn’t look back.
"He believed he was not being watched. It seems likely he only realised she fell in front of a bus when he saw the video later.
"I decided to watch it as a historical fiction, to look at out changing relationship with justice, anonymity and with consequences."
She added: "The footage is clear. If he was, say, my cousin I would know him. So if there is somebody watching the play this month, thinking they have more information, I hope they will come forward."
