Officers investigating the death of a 21-year-old who drowned in the Thames in Kingston in June are preparing to write to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with a dossier of evidence.
Detective Sergeant Stephen Kinchington, of the Serious Crime Directorate, was handed the case so investigations could be carried out with greater resources.
He said police were “covering all avenues” to get to the bottom of how Surbiton resident James Spencer died in the river on June 19.
D Sgt Kinchington said: “We are covering all avenues. It’s a very unusual case in terms of why does anyone jump in the river that late at night, try and go across and then come back and drown?
“He had no other injuries on him, nothing consistent with any form of assault, but his parents will tell you that he wouldn’t have jumped in the water without good reason.
"There are only a number of people who can tell us why he jumped in and one of them is dead.”
He refused to reveal if the death was now being treated as suspicious, which has been denied all along, but said the CPS would ultimately make a decision on whether or not anyone was criminally responsible for his death.
He did reveal Mr Spencer was three times the drink-drive limit, according to toxicology reports, after drinking with friends on a houseboat before entering the water at about 12.30am.
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