Mystery of crash victim’s identity finally solved after a decade

An unknown man whose name has remained a mystery after he was killed in a crash in London a decade ago has finally been identified.

Investigators from Locate International have worked to identify a man who was killed in January 2015 while crossing the road near the Bell pub in Walthamstow, east London.

He was just metres from the front door of his flat when he was struck by a car.

Although the driver was prosecuted and police figured out where the victim lived, his identity has remained a mystery – until now.

He owned just a few items and his phone had only a few contacts on them.

A few people in the area said they had encountered him, and said his name was similar to Brian Wallace.

They added ‘Brian’ spoke with a Northern accent and worked as a cash-in-hand builder, and possibly had a sister elsewhere in north London.

The case eventually went cold, but in 2022 volunteer investigators from Locate International launched their own investigation targeting northern cities.

After targeting press appeals in Sheffield, there was a significant breakthrough, and the victim’s name was finally confirmed to be Bryan Alwyn Woolis.

In January an article appeared in the Sheffield Star about the cold case which was read by Nik Dodsworth from South Yorkshire Police.

Inspector Dodsworth then identified Alwyn Woolis’ daughter and she was able to make a positive identification: The man who died was her brother, Bryan Woolis.

He said: ‘I did some enquiries and found a partial DNA hit which brought up a Brian Alwyn Woolis, and I immediately noted the similarity of the name to Brian Wallace.

‘I found an obituary for an Alwyn Woolis who had died in Derbyshire in 2016, and in the obituary his late son Brian was mentioned, as well as Alwyn’s daughter and another son.

‘My sympathy is with Bryan’s family, who had to live with not knowing what happened to him for several years.

‘I am glad that they finally have some closure on this tragic incident and can begin to rebuild.’

Even now, it is unclear if Bryan had children, or a partner, but he is believed to have been close to someone named Sylvia, who worked in country and western venues in the Nottingham area.

Yvonne Naish, who led the team that investigated Bryan’s case, said: ‘I am really pleased that we have been able to let his family know what happened to him and hopefully bring them some peace of mind.

‘The whole team spent a lot of time thinking about the case and trying to understand how the police had a name yet no one could locate his family.’

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