[2] In 2018, Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester's city centre spokesman, dismissed the theory of a 'Manchester pusher' as an urban myth, adding "It [..] will never die, and any time there's an incident or accident it comes up again.

[2] According to a BBC News article in 2018, the origins of the Manchester Pusher story can be traced back to a Daily Star Sunday article from January 2015,[3] in which Professor Craig Jackson, head of psychology at Birmingham City University, concluded that "It (was) extremely unlikely that such an alarming number of bodies found in the canals (could be) the result of accidents or suicides", and that it was "entirely possible" that a canal killer or 'gay slayer' was the cause for at least some of the deaths.

[10] The incident revived rumours of the pusher, and Greater Manchester police stated they were looking for the suspect, said to be "a white male aged between 20 and 40".

[2] Andy Sutcliffe, Greater Manchester Police's Chief Inspector, stressed at the time that there was "...no evidence to suggest that this is linked to any other incidents and we've had no further reports.

[10] David Wilson, the chair of the Manchester Water Safety Partnership, was quoted in 2018 as saying that he suspected that a significant number of the canal deaths were alcohol-related.