Family of crushed teacher suspect foul play

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

The family of the New Zealand teacher crushed by a rubbish truck in Britain suspect foul play rather than a drunken incident was the cause of his death.

Scott Williams' body was discovered when the truck emptied its load at the depot near Brighton in southern England on Monday morning.

An autopsy revealed he died of crush injuries.

It has been reported the 35-year-old, who lived and worked in London, may have crawled into a wheelie bin to sleep after drinking with friends in Brighton.

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

"It's just not right what they're saying," 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."

His sister, Jolene, 34, also of Hamilton, also does not believe her brother climbed into the bin.

The shock of his death was still sinking in.

"We just can't believe it," she said. "It's a huge shock to us and want to have him home so we can put closure to it really."

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.

Sussex police told the Waikato Times this morning they were treating Mr Williams' death as "unexplained rather than suspicious".

- NZPA