The Metropolitan Police is set to investigate its own handling of the arrest of the man suspected of pushing a woman in front of a bus on Putney Bridge, following an assessment by the police watchdog.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed that the London force should carry out an internal probe into how officers handled the suspect's arrest.

The suspect at the centre of the case is now dead. It was following his death that the Metropolitan Police was officially referred to the IOPC.

To take you back to the origins of the case, the incident took place in 2017 on Putney Bridge, where a woman was pushed into the path of an oncoming bus. The individual sought in connection with the incident became widely known as the 'Putney pusher'.

Following the death of the suspect, the matter was referred to the IOPC to determine the appropriate course of action. After carrying out its assessment, the watchdog decided that the Met should look into its own handling of the arrest.

That decision means the Metropolitan Police will now examine its own records and the conduct of its officers regarding the arrest process that took place before the suspect died.

When a police force is tasked with investigating itself following an IOPC referral, the question of institutional accountability naturally comes to the fore. In this case, the watchdog's assessment determined that an internal probe by the Met was the required next step.

What we don't know yet are the full circumstances surrounding the suspect's death or the exact timeframe for when the Met's internal investigation will conclude. Those details have not been made public.

What is clear is that the force is now bound by the watchdog's assessment to review how its officers handled the arrest of the suspect in the 2017 Putney Bridge case.

The next stage will be the completion of that internal Met investigation and any findings that emerge from it. I'll be following this one — check back for updates.