UK UK - Fears of a serial killer in Manchester dumping in Canals

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DM:

Is a serial killer dubbed The Pusher stalking Manchester's canals? Experts fear
'an extremely disturbed individual' could be responsible for 28 unexplained deaths

⁍ An astonishing 85 bodies have been pulled from city's rivers since 2007
⁍ Cause behind the majority have been established but 28 still 'unexplained'
⁍ Many families now asking if their loved ones were victims of a serial killer
⁍ 'Murderer' dubbed The Pusher alleged to bundle targets into the icy waters
⁍ 'Manchester's Serial Killer?' on Channel 4 tonight at 11pm examines the claims
Click to expand...
 
Manchester's Serial Killer aired on Channel 4 last night, you will be able to watch it on 4 on demand. It explored 3 of those 28 "unexplained" cases where nothing can be ruled out.

The cases were:
Nathan Tomlinson
Left club alone in cold snowy weather and was caught around town on cctv - taking more than the long way home - including running at one point? authorities say it is him in the poor quality images but his parents and private investigators who carried out various timing exercises and reenactments in the program think otherwise

David Plunkett - A friend phoned David's parents as David had gone missing on their night out and he couldn't get hold of him and wanted to check if David had went home. David's parent's called David's mobile - which was answered, but no one spoke. They could hear the person - whom they assumed was David - walking and the call continued for 8 minutes while they tried to speak to their son met with silence. After 8 minutes they heard a sickening scream and the call cut off. Had someone done something to David or had he jumped/fell in the river? His phone was found on the embankment and specialists think that if the scream was him falling in the river then they would have heard him hit the water, and the phone may not have cut off.

Souvik Pal - He was thrown out a club early in the night for skipping the queue for the toilets. His friends attested he had not had much to drink. He was spotted on CCTV standing outside the club whilst he messaged his friends before chatting to an unknown man, whom he left with on CCTV. CCTV records them at the canal side & then strange mostly offscreen movement that is caught on the edge of the CCTV, it is hard to make out and both are off camera. Later the man Souvik is with leaves by himself (recorded on CCTV). Efforts to trace and identify the man - who may be able to provide information on what could have happened - have been unsuccessful.

Daily Mail has posted an article on the documentary
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-eight-years-experts-fear-deaths-linked.html

My thoughts:
Whilst there are unanswered questions in relation to the deaths, they are still "unexplained".

Watching the program a couple of things were apparent to me - it showed the vast canal network walkways that people regularly walked along in the dark of night, under bridges, along embankments etc on the way to / from town. There were no railings to prevent accidents so tripping or falling, fooling around, bad weather or fighting could easily mean entry into the water ways. The secluded and dark pathways are also an ideal spot for gangs to operate drugs/women/thefts.

Secondly, the show plays on the statistics of bodies recovered as the main hint of a serial killer. Statistics and history shows that there can be pockets & trends of suicide in certain areas or by certain means. There is a town in Wales (name escapes me right now but i can dig) where there is a really high rate of suicide by hanging among the local teenage population, that the press reported it as an "epidemic". Aokiogahara forest is another example. It can become a symbol for those who see no way out.

Between suicides, accidents due to the poor layout (cmon council get some lamp posts & barriers in there), muggings etc I can see the figure being that high - no evidence of a serial killer
 
biscuits222 said:
but the sad fact is that deep water and humans don't mix well in terms of sustainance of life.
Click to expand...

Britain's canals are not deep though - typically they are less than 6' deep. Deep enough to drown in, obviously, but not actually deep.

Places with more water features will have more water deaths. Evidence of murder is needed, otherwise suicide or accident is the likely cause.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I need to do some more reading on the Manchester situation, but I can't help think that if it was merely a combination of young men, drink and water we would be seeing something similar in Birmingham.

Birmingham's nightlife and entertainment areas are mostly along and around the redeveloped and revitalised canal system. If you look for "Broad Street Birmingham" on Google maps you can see the way that pubs, bars and restaurants are clustered around and along parts of the canal system, especially Brindley Place and the Gas Street Basin/The Mailbox. What this does not show is the concentration of bars along Broad Street itself, but trundling along it on street view makes this very obvious. So why are significant numbers of bodies not being pulled out of Birmingham's city centre canals?

One factor that is different is that Birmingham's Gay Village is half a mile away from the main entertainment area and its canals, on the edge of Chinatown, so if there's an element of gay-bashing in Manchester that probably isn't relevant in Birmingham.
 
I've thought for some time now that there's more to this than just a bunch of drunk men falling in the canal.

There is far more than anywhere else and some of them are very strange, I highly doubt ALL of them are down to being drunk and falling in.

The case of Chris Brahney was the one that actually led me to come across the theory of the pusher. Chris was seen on CCTV making his way home after a concert only to be found in the water some time later. In the CCTV he didn't appear drunk, was walking with clear purpose and had no previous mental health issues.
 
There was a TV documentary about this a few days ago, I missed, did anyone see it?
 
I completely threw myself in last night as I started serious research into this last year but life got in the way and I had to stop. However I searched as many public news articles of deaths in the Manchester Shipping canal, Rochdale Canal, Bridgewater Canal and River Irwell. The issue I'm finding is getting the records of deaths in the water ways, I know there was a FOI request which gave it to a paper (not sure which one) but when I've searched online I can't find any disclosed records.

In searching news articles relating to the water ways I found a number who'd fallen in by accident, a couple of people that had jumped in by choice to avoid being mugged/injured and even a case of a mugger who pushed two people in (one of which later died). I don't feel the idea of some of these "open" verdicts being some sort of foul play is completely out of the realm of possibility.

Out of all the articles I found I managed to rule out any that sounded like conclusive accidents i.e witnesses seeing the person enter the water, the person being recovered safely being able to give an account of how they ended up in the water.

Even if we say they aren't all "young" but lets say under the age of 50 (males) you'd expect a little more care around dangerous locations or at least I'd like to think that.

Some of the cases I think that do need looking into are those that have no real explanation.

David Plunkett - 21 - April 2012 (last seen)
Family heard him scream and howl on the phone the night of his disappearance.
Found in Manchester Ship Canal April 2012


Chris Brahney - 22 - June 2012 (last seen)
His case was actually the one that got my interest in 2012, as he's not far off my age and hangs in similar groups that I did at the time.
He went to a Stone Roses concert in Heaton Park, Manchester and was last seen by friends around 11.30 pm on Friday 29th June 2012.
CCTV shows him walking with purpose, not appearing drunk or lost.
He headed home and CCTV shows him in Manchester City near Shudehill before seemingly vanishing.
His body was recovered from Manchester Ship Canal near Media City on July 9th 2012.
Open verdict.

Souvik Pal - 18 - December 2012 (last seen)
CCTV shows 2 people leaving the club he was last seen at, heading down to the canal however only 1 person returning. This person was never ID'd.
His body was found just 50ft from the club.
Found in the Bridgewater Canal
Open Verdict

Nathan Tomlinson - 21 - 17th December 2010 (last seen)
Found: River Irwell near Adelphi Street.
Body was found on the 10th Feb 2011
Open verdict

Gurdeep Hayer - 20 - 2nd January 2012
Found in the River Medlock, Near York Street.
Open Verdict

Stephen Swanson - 33 - September 2015
Found Manchester Ship Canal, near media city (same location as Chris)
His mother has been quoted as saying to MSM that he had two broken teeth, a broken nose and she was asked if he had any known problem with his neck.
Open verdict.

Those are just a few that are in the lower age range, there are also a number of males in their 30's / 40's too as well as some much older (that could have been accidents).
However these cases in particular are ruled open, some of them are strange and leave more questions than answers.
 
Hey,I'm new to this site and have been taking an interest in 'The Pusher' since moving to Manchester for uni.I don't know if this has been mentioned already (or is worthy of note) but they shut some of the city centre canal paths at around 7pm.I know they shut the entrance's on Canal Street at around 7pm but I'm not sure how far this extends upon that particular pathway.However,the Rochdale Tow Path entrance across from the Palace Theatre is never shut to my knowledge.I have seen it open at various times during the early morning on my way back from nights out so I presume it is never shut.I find it strange that they would shut some but not all of the entrances .I'm not 100% sure of the reason that they were shut in the first place although I have heard it was due to a number of rapes occurring on the paths.This is a very interesting case as there have been no witnesses or evidence but i think there is a pattern that can't be ignored.I can't help feeling that if it was women that were being found there would be more about it in the media.
 
Turia said:
Hey,I'm new to this site and have been taking an interest in 'The Pusher' since moving to Manchester for uni.I don't know if this has been mentioned already (or is worthy of note) but they shut some of the city centre canal paths at around 7pm.I know they shut the entrance's on Canal Street at around 7pm but I'm not sure how far this extends upon that particular pathway.However,the Rochdale Tow Path entrance across from the Palace Theatre is never shut to my knowledge.I have seen it open at various times during the early morning on my way back from nights out so I presume it is never shut.I find it strange that they would shut some but not all of the entrances .I'm not 100% sure of the reason that they were shut in the first place although I have heard it was due to a number of rapes occurring on the paths.This is a very interesting case as there have been no witnesses or evidence but i think there is a pattern that can't be ignored.I can't help feeling that if it was women that were being found there would be more about it in the media.
Click to expand...

Oh my word if it was women there'd be uproar, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, the media and public can be pretty unsympathetic to peoples lifestyle choices - see Corrie McKeague's case to witness in real time how the tables can slowly turn. The fact that a lot of these incidents happened around Canal Street will automatically switch off some public interest. Sad, but seems to be how it is.

Oh, and :welcome: Manchester is a fine city (though not as fine as Leeds and on t'wrong side of t'hill hahahaha!)
 
Having just watched the BBC documentary on the Grindr killer who drugged his victims I was astounded at the police not linking the deaths and if it were not for the public and one victims sisters he may never have been apprehended it leads me to thinking at the very least some of these deaths will be connected and how shocking police work can be at times. In the grindr case they wouldn't spend money to check mobile phone records , laptops or draft in a handwriting specialist (lied about getting one ) All of which would have put in black and white who the killer was ! I definitely think there is a serial killer operating all over Britain targeting young men especially on nights out .

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
In search of Manchester's canal 'pusher'

Manchester Pusher: Does a serial killer haunt the city's canals?
By Dan BoxBBC News
  • 5 September 2018

_103300517_gettyimages-566450267.jpg
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Rumours of a serial killer stalking Manchester's canals have spread around the world, despite repeated denials from those in law enforcement. So what is the truth behind the story of 'The Pusher'?

Tom was cycling home at night when the man attacked him. A swinging arm knocked the 34-year-old into the cold, black water of the Bridgewater Canal. Shocked by what had happened, Tom tried to pull himself out, but the man kicked his hand away.

"I started to think 'This is quite serious'," says Tom', who asked that his real name not be published.

He had heard rumours about "The Pusher", a supposed serial killer whose victims were found drowned in Manchester's old industrial canals. There are no lights along that section of canal towpath, running through the south-west of the city. No-one to hear him if he screamed.

Eventually, Tom managed to haul himself out of the water. Following the assault, which took place in April, the city's police and coroner denied there was any evidence of a serial attacker.

Yet dozens of dead bodies have been pulled from the city's waterways over the past decade and the rumours remain.

p06j25xk.jpg
 
wfgodot said:
DM:

Is a serial killer dubbed The Pusher stalking Manchester's canals? Experts fear
'an extremely disturbed individual' could be responsible for 28 unexplained deaths
Click to expand...
Miss you wfgodot!
from link.. rbbm
Craig Jackson, a criminologist lecturing at Birmingham City University, believes that the high number of similar cases makes it unlikely that they are all either accidents or suicides.

3055579200000578-3406463-image-a-56_1453211851808.jpg


Appearing on a new Channel 4 documentary titled 'Manchester's Serial Killer?', former senior detective Tony Blockley (pictured) will tonight examine the evidence purporting to support the allegation that the same person may well be responsible for a catalogue of killings

He previously told the Daily Star: 'Canals are not popular suicide spots, especially for men.

'They are, however, popular dumping sites. And water can be a sure way to erase DNA evidence.'
 
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