Hamilton body discovery leads to homicide probe

A specialist search team from Auckland is working with Hamilton police on the inquiry. Photo / Christine Cornege

The case of a man whose dead body was found in a central Hamilton street has been upgraded to a homicide investigation, say police.

The man, believed to be aged in his late 50s or early 60s, has remained unidentified since being discovered by a street cleaner in London St on Sunday morning.

He was found near a public toilet with unexplained and unusual head injuries, however earlier reports of fighting have been dismissed.

An autopsy was being carried out in Auckland yesterday.

Detective Inspector Lance Burdett earlier said the man's lack of possessions and the nature of his head injuries had made his identification difficult.

Patrol cars had been unable to attend reports of fights in the downtown area on Saturday night, near where the man was found, Mr Burdett said.

Police would investigate whether these calls, and reports of missing people, related to the dead man.

St John Ambulance regional operations manager Brent Nielsen said the man was dead when staff arrived just after 6am.

Police would study CCTV footage from inner-city cameras and were calling on public sightings of the European man in London or Victoria Sts early on Sunday.

The victim was wearing light tan pants, a light blue jacket with blue woollen sleeve cuffs, a dark brown jersey under his jacket and brown slippers.

Mr Burdett said the fact he was wearing slippers was unusual, and meant someone was likely to have noticed him in town in the early hours.

The crime scene was reopened to the public yesterday afternoon after a blessing.

Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Greene said a specialist search team had arrived from Auckland, and officers were now searching for clues over a wider area.

The street cleaner, who worked for Transpacific Industrial Solutions, has been stood down for counselling after his discovery.