British police test theory crushed teacher sheltered in wheelie bin

An autopsy revealed Scott Williams died of crush injuries. Photo / Supplied

British police initially suspected foul play in the death of the New Zealand teacher whose body was found at a rubbish depot in Brighton.

But a post mortem indicated Scott Williams, 35, had been crushed - apparently in the compacting mechanism of a rubbish truck - after going to sleep in a large wheelie bin following a night out drinking with friends.

Rubbish collectors found the body when they were emptying their truck, and witnesses to the grisly find said bystanders thought he had been beaten up and stabbed.

"At first police suspected foul play, but a post mortem revealed the New Zealander had been crushed," the ABC reported.

Detective chief inspector Graham Pratt from Sussex police said Mr Williams had been at a pub socialising with friends.

"We're trying to test the theory that Scott climbed into the wheelie bin of his own accord to shelter from the rain," he said.

Mr Williams' family in New Zealand said today they suspected foul play rather than a drunken incident was the cause of his death.

His mother, Marion, said from her Hamilton home there was no way her son would climb into a rubbish bin of his own accord.

She told the Waikato Times: "We don't believe that he would ever go into a bin."

An older brother, Tony, 37, had spent the day with Scott before they both went to separate functions that night.

"(Tony) can't believe (police) won't suspect foul play. (Police) have no coverage of the bin or anywhere he was after he escorted a female to a taxi at 3am."

Mr Platt said: "What happened is an issue and where it happened is another."

The Daily Mail newspaper quoted a police spokesman as saying : "It is assumed Scott had been in one of the wheelie bins. Police are investigating how he came to be there and are treating his death as unexplained rather than suspicious."

The Argus newspaper in Sussex noted two homeless men asleep in bins had almost died in separate incidents as they were lifted into rubbish trucks. Workers heard their screams and hit emergency buttons to stop the crusher.

Mr Williams, a former Waikato swimming champion and student at Hamilton's Fraser High School, had been living and working as a teacher in London since 2000, with a break back in New Zealand in 2007.

- NZPA