Is a serial killer on the loose?
REGULAR readers of this column – which has appeared on these pages almost every Saturday since 2001 – will know I am no conspiracy theorist. I cannot remember a crackpot conjecture over the last 40 years that I don’t hold in general contempt, be it the “grassy knoll” Kennedy assassination nonsense (that there were two snipers that day in Dallas, not one) or the loopy thesis that the Nasa moon landings were an elaborate studio-bound fraud.
So I’ve long held my tongue about a disturbing story that has been swirling around Manchester’s waterways for at least 10 years now: that a serial killer is on the loose along the canals that bisect the inner city.
But this week the so-called “Manchester Pusher”, long considered to be an urban myth, emerged as a chilling likelihood. His methodology is to creep up on tow-paths behind cyclists and pedestrians and force them violently into the water.
Mancunians began whispering about “the Pusher” years ago as the body count of drownings suddenly and steadily climbed. At least 76 corpses have now been recovered from canals since 2007. That’s way above what could be reasonably put down to genuine accidents and 17 of those deaths were formally classed as “unexplained” (which means neither the police or coroner could say how the person died).
The first concrete evidence for foul play emerged last week when a cyclist was deliberately knocked into a canal late at night and then kicked back in as he tried to save himself from drowning. Greater Manchester police confirmed that a 34-year-old office worker came forward after his attacker – who made no attempt to steal anything – eventually ran off. They are treating the crime as assault, not attempted murder, but the victim – who has asked to remain anonymous – says he is in no doubt the man who forced him in was “a total psychopath”. He is certain that long-standing rumours of the Pusher are true.
It certainly sounds as if he had a narrow squeak. He says he almost drowned when his legs became trapped in the frame of his bike and his backpack filled with water. “It was 10pm, I was working the late shift and coming home late,” he told a Sunday newspaper. “I saw a man out of the corner of my eye and he swung his arm and it caught me on my neck. I went straight underwater with my legs twisted in the bike… I tried to get a grip on the side of the canal, where it was slippery and mossy. That’s when he kicked my hands away and I slipped back under the water again.”
When he re-surfaced he saw his attacker, described as aged 20-40, white, wearing a black jacket and of average height, running away.
The victim’s mobile phone was soaked and useless and he ran to a nearby late-night gym to call 999. Now his wife has posted a public warning about a “canal pusher” on a Greater Manchester Facebook community page.
I frequently travel to Manchester’s Salford Quays on broadcasting business. I first heard the rumours about a maniac stalking the canals there several years ago. My informant was an old friend, an experienced local newspaper journalist who told me over a drink that he was personally convinced that there was a killer on the loose.
I’ll be up in Salford Quays next month to record some episodes of Countdown. I won’t be taking any late-night strolls along the towpath, that’s for sure.