4:41pm Monday 8th March 2010
A POPULAR and outgoing teacher was found dead among rubbish at a waste transfer site following a last-minute decision to spend the night partying in a seaside city, an inquest heard today.
New Zealander Scott Williams, 35, was found by a member of staff as he sifted through rubbish at the site in Newhaven, East Sussex, on July 13 last year.
Jurors at an inquest into his death were shown CCTV images of his last known movements, which showed him accompanying a woman to a taxi rank on Brighton seafront in the early hours of July 12. He was never seen alive again.
It was thought the maths and PE teacher, who taught at Stag Lane Pupil Referral Unit, had got inside a wheelie bin which was then transferred to the dump by a dustcart later that morning.
A post-mortem examination found he died from crush injuries.
Mr Williams's flatmate Robert Pinniger told the inquest that the two of them had driven down to Brighton on Saturday July 11 with the intention of returning home to Willesden later that day.
However, after beginning their journey home, they both realised they did not have any particular plans for the evening and decided to drive back into Brighton.
Mr Pinniger told jurors they spent the night drinking in various pubs around the city's Lanes area, before ending up in the Black Lion along with some of his friends.
The men, who shared a flat with two others, both drank lager along with a number of Sambuca shots, but Mr Pinniger said that Mr Williams, a former Harrow High teacher, did not appear particularly intoxicated as he could handle his drink.
The inquest heard Mr Williams was a keen sportsman who enjoyed swimming, rowing and playing rugby, and was 6ft 3in and well-built.
Mr Pinniger said everyone was enjoying a "fun" night but he was eventually asked to leave by door staff after he fell asleep inside the pub. He added that Mr Williams preferred to stay, but this was not an unusual thing to happen on their nights out together.
He told jurors that he got a taxi back to his mother's house where they had arranged to stay that night, and he expected Mr Williams to follow later, but he never did.
Doorman Robin Morris said in a statement that was read out to the inquest that he had noticed Mr Williams inside the Black Lion as he was "quite muscular and physically imposing" and it was his job to be aware of anyone that might be difficult to handle.
However he went on to say that he found him to be "a good, fun and friendly customer" who took his time over his drinks and was "not stumbling and falling around".
He also noted that after he and his colleagues asked Mr Pinniger to leave, Mr Williams tried to persuade him to let him back in, but "he was too sensible to argue with me".
Mr Morris said he stayed until the pub closed at around 2.30am when he left with a woman he had been flirting with all night.
Charlotte Radford told the inquest that she had met Mr Williams in the pub that night and he had walked her and her sister to a taxi rank at the end of the evening.
"He had been drinking but he could obviously handle himself," she said. She added that when she left him she believed he had cash on him and a mobile phone and so did not worry about what he would do.
The inquest also heard from Mr Williams's brother Tony, who had spent the day with him in Brighton and described him as someone who was "very outgoing" and "very well-liked".
He said Mr Williams, who had lived in the UK for around seven years, had been to the city at least twice before and knew his way around reasonably well.
He added that he could have also spent the night with him at his girlfriend's flat in Hove if he had wanted to and had been there before.
He said he had spoken to his brother on the phone a couple of times during the course of the evening as they had hoped to meet up again, and he "seemed like he was just having a good night out".
"He didn't seem like he was slurring his words or completely intoxicated," he added.
He also told the inquest the weather had been bad that day, and it rained heavily in the evening.
He called and texted his mobile the next day but he did not hear back from Mr Williams, which he thought was "very weird".
The inquest heard that Mr Pinniger also got no reply from Mr Williams when he tried to contact him on the Sunday, and he returned to London alone.
Mr Pinniger said he became worried when his flatmate had still not returned to go to work on the Monday morning, and so he phoned his mother to ask if she could call police in Brighton.
Mr Williams's body was found by a worker at Sussex Waste Recycling Ltd company at around 7am on Monday morning.
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