The body of a man has finally been identified 10 years after he was struck by a car near his home in Walthamstow.
Bryan Woolis died in a road traffic collision on January 22 2015, when he was hit by a Mercedes C-Class, but at the time, detectives had struggled to identify him or find his family.
Now, a South Yorkshire Police officer, who gave his free time to investigate the crash, has successfully identified Bryan and finally helped his family have some closure after his death.
Detectives who initially investigated the collision had been unable to identify the victim or locate his family, although they had heard he may have been called Brian Wallace, and that he had relatives in Sheffield.
Despite the Mercedes driver going before the courts and receiving a suspended sentence, the case could not be closed because the victim had not been formally identified.
Missing persons charity Locate International shared an appeal to identify the man in January 2024, which was followed up by local Sheffield press.
Local police officer Nik Dodsworth first became aware of the case via an article on The Sheffield Star’s website and offered his free time to try and solve the mystery.
He explained: “I was drawn to the case because I saw that The Sheffield Star had two good quality photos of the victim, but despite this, he had still not been identified. I found that quite sad.
“When I first joined the police, this was the kind of job I envisaged myself doing every day, but of course the majority of the time it’s nothing like this at all.
“As it was believed that Bryan had links to Sheffield, and with Locate International being primarily London based, I offered to help out.
“I had done about five hours of research, primarily internet-based and with some visits to negate possible identities that had been suggested on forums.
“The Met were really helpful, and when I got the case notes from them it became quite straightforward.”
Mr Dodsworth was able to confirm that Brian Wallace was actually Bryan Alwyn Woolis with help from a partial DNA match and the Police National Computer database.
Further investigations turned up an obituary for an Alywn Woolis (Bryan’s father), who had died in Derbyshire in 2016.
Alwyn Woolis’s obituary listed three children, including Bryan. So Ms Dodsworth was able to reach out to his siblings and fill in the many of the blanks surrounding Bryan’s life and death.
He added: “Bryan’s sister moved to London in the 1990s, Bryan followed a few years later and he would visit her from time to time.
“However, Bryan lived a quiet life by choice, and after his sister moved back up north in the 2000s to look after their father, they didn’t see each other again.
“Because the family did not stay in regular contact, it was not considered unusual not to hear from Bryan for long periods of time, and so he was not listed as a missing person.
“When I got in touch with Bryan’s sister, I was able to tell her what had happened to her brother. Despite not being close, she experienced grief at Bryan’s death. She had heard a rumour that Bryan had died of natural causes but could not find anything to corroborate this.
“It was a sad thing, to have a man die and be buried without being correctly identified, but it’s not as uncommon as you might expect.
“What actually makes this case unusual is that it has now been resolved.”
Locate International are now working to secure a new headstone for Bryan’s grave at Manor Park Cemetery in London.
