A Ukranian working illegally lay dead in a flat as his colleagues fled - fearing they would be deported.

Andrey Gotsko was staying without the knowledge of his boss at a Brighton property he and other workers were converting into flats, when he died of a suspected heroin overdose.

His colleagues - believed to be illegal immigrants - saw him lying lifeless on the floor, surrounded by drugs paraphernalia.

But instead of calling police, they left in a bid to avoid arrest.

The death has raised questions about a growing underworld of illegal workers coming to Brighton from across the world and taking unofficial jobs or committing crimes.

Sussex Police said 25-year-old Mr Gotsko's death was just "the tip of the iceberg" in a culture of people-trafficking in Brighton and Hove.

One of the workers contacted the property's owner after fleeing.

The employee was interviewed by police and was found to be an illegal immigrant. He is believed to have since been deported.

Detective Inspector Dave Miller, of Brighton CID, said: "There is an underlying network of people-trafficking and illegal immigrants in Brighton, as there is in all cities and large towns.

"This incident has exposed just the tip of an iceberg.

"We quite regularly come across people committing minor crimes who should not be in this country."

Mr Gotsko's body was found on December 27, five days before Algerian illegal immigrant Kamel Kadri ran over and killed nine-year-old schoolboy Callum John "CJ" Oakford in Ferring.

Kadri, 38, fled the scene before later being caught by police. He had used fake documents to get a job at Worthing Hospital.

He had no insurance and no driving licence.

Last Monday, Kadri admitted failing to stop after the accident and will be sentenced next month.

Mr Gotsko had been working to convert a block of flats above the former Marrakech Restaurant in Queens Road, Brighton.

The Ukrainian embassy in London has informed Mr Gotsko's mother of his death.

Embassy officials refused yesterday to release his personal details or comment on how he had come to be working in Brighton.

But colleagues told The Argus they were surprised he had stayed in the building he was helping to renovate over Christmas.

Police officers found Home Office papers in the flat telling Mr Gotsko he was not allowed to work and ordering him to report to immigration authorities twice a week.

Inquiries showed Mr Gotsko worked as a physical education teacher in the Ukraine for £25 a month.

The project manager for the conversion, who refused to reveal his full name or the name of the company involved, said: "This has come as a real shock"

At the start of December Mr Gotsko was introduced to the project manager, known only as Kevin, by a friend already working on the property.

To colleagues he seemed a happy, healthy man who was friendly with co-workers and was interested in keeping fit.

He and a friend left the property every weekend, though it is not known where they went.

Kevin said: "They worked until a day before Christmas and I automatically thought they were going home.

"Then I got a call saying Andrey had been found dead in the property.

"I was very surprised because he said he had worked as a PE teacher and was very fit and even went running on the seafront.

"You don't expect someone who regularly goes running to suddenly get involved in drugs. He was a lovely guy and I feel very sorry for his family."

The number of people detected by the Immigration Service in unofficial jobs while in the UK illegally or while prohibited from working has risen significantly in recent years.

The Home Office believes there are hundreds of thousands of illegal workers in the UK, although there is no official estimate for Sussex.

In 1996 the Government introduced the Asylum and Immigration Act, which made it a criminal offence to employ someone subject to immigration control.

An inquest into Mr Gotsko's death is expected to be opened on March 10.