A man who was mowed down by a car only a feet from his door has finally been identified after a decade of police trying to track down his true identity.
Bryan Woolis died only a stone’s throw from his home in Walthamstow, London, after being hit by a Mercedes on January 22, 2015.
However, there were no records of the man, who was also previously Brian Wallace, to be found in the wake of his death.
And even though the driver was handed a suspended sentence following the incident, the case stayed open due to Mr Woolis never being formally identified.
In January 2024, a newspaper launched an appeal from Locate International, a charity dedicated to finding the missing and naming the unidentified, in a bid to track down Brian.
And this caught the eye of none other Inspector Nik Dodsworth, who became interested in finding Mr Woollis’s identity after learning of the man’s possible connections to Sheffield.
‘They had two good quality photos of the victim, but despite this, he had still not been identified. I found that quite sad,’ the South Yorkshire Police Inspector told the BBC.
Trawling through old Met Police case files, the dedicated inspector, discovered a partial DNA match, which eventually, via the Police National Computer database, unearthed the man’s true identity – Bryan Alwyn Woolis.
Bryan Woolis died only a stone’s throw from his home in Walthamstow, London, after being mowed down by a Mercedes on January 22, 2015
Inspector Nik Dodsworth discovered a partial DNA match, which eventually, via the Police National Computer database, unearthed the man’s true identity – Bryan Alwyn Woolis
Locate International, a charity dedicated to finding the missing and naming the unidentified, are trying to obtain a new headstone for Mr Woolis’s with the correct iteration of his name
Inspector Dodsworth went a step further, and managed to find down Mr Woolis’s estranged family after he discovered his father, Alwyn Woolis’s obituary online.
The memorial indicated Mr Woolis senior passed away in Derbyshire in 2016, and said he was survived by three children, including Bryan.
At the time of his death, Bryan had opted for a more tranquil life, and had not seen his sister since the 2000s after she had moved away from London to care for their father, according to the Inspector.
Due to going long periods of time without speaking to family, Bryan was not registered as a missing person when he tragically died in 2015.
‘Despite not being close, she [his sister] experienced grief at Bryan’s death,’ he said: ‘She had heard a rumour that Bryan had died of natural causes but could not find anything to corroborate this.’
Inspector Dodsworth explained that while many might find the occurrence of dying without an identity shocking, it is more common than people may believe.
Now Locate International are trying to obtain a new headstone for Mr Woolis with the correct iteration of his name.
Adamant obtaining a new headstone for Mr Woolis ‘had to happen’, Inspector Dodworth revealed he experienced a ‘sense of satisfaction’ after getting to the root of the mystery.
‘I am glad that they [the family] finally have some closure on this tragic incident and can begin to rebuild,’ he said.
