The Metropolitan Police has been praised by a London MP following the arrest of a multi-millionaire banker on suspicion of being the “Putney Pusher”.
Putney MP Fleur Anderson also said she hoped that the arrest would give the woman who was pushed in front of a bus nine years some “reassurance”.
Detectives arrested a man on Monday over the 2017 incident when a jogger shoved a woman headfirst into the path of a double decker London bus.
The man, aged 44, was taken in for questioning on Monday on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm, Scotland Yard said.
He was released on police bail on Monday night pending further investigations.
The jogger was caught on camera running on Putney Bridge at around 7.40am on May 5 2017, passing one man before pushing the woman, aged 33, off the kerb and into a bus lane.
The assailant was believed to be a stranger to the victim.
Bus driver Oliver Salbris, driving on the 430 route, managed to swerve to avoid hitting her by inches.
“If I hadn’t swerved, I would have smashed her head,” he told The Sunday Times.
“It was reflex. The consequences would have been terrible for her – and for me.”
Around 15 minutes after the push, the jogger reportedly came back the other way across the bridge, and ignored the victim when she tried to speak to him.
During their investigation, detectives identified more than 50 people of interest before closing the probe in 2018, saying that all lines of inquiry had been exhausted.
But this changed on Monday with the arrest of the man.
Ms Anderson said: “This is a significant step forward and one that many people in Putney will welcome after such a long time.
“My thoughts are with the woman involved - I hope this brings her some reassurance.”
She added: “I’d like to thank the police for sticking with this case over the years.
“It’s important now that the investigation is able to proceed properly.”
The arrested man is a banker who was detained at his £1.4million home in west London, according to the Daily Mail.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "On Monday, 15 June, a 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm.
"He was taken to police custody, where he remains.
"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.
"Inquiries continue."
The Putney incident sparked huge interest and became one of Britain's most compelling unsolved cases.
Three suspects were arrested, including an American investment banker - who was able to prove that he was in the US at the time.
But no suspect was ever charged in the case.
Mr Salbris previously told the Daily Mail: “I always think about the case and I still drive over Putney Bridge several times a day.
“Whenever I’m on the bridge, I look very carefully at the pedestrians on the pavement, I just can’t help it. I wouldn’t say it haunts me, but it’s not something I can easily forget.
“I’m glad my reactions were quick on that day, or it would have ended very differently, both for me and the woman who was pushed. Her head was only a few centimetres from the bus and the wheel, even after I swerved to avoid her.”
