A BUILDER was crushed by a dumper truck in front of three young children as he worked on the school site.

Anthony Lockey, 48, was working at Red Oaks Primary School yesterday afternoon when the accident took place.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are now investigating what police have described as a "tragic accident".

Three pupils at the school, believed to be four or five years old, saw the incident and were collected by their parents from the school - which only opened in September last year.

An ambulance was called at around 1.50pm, and the Swindon man was taken to the Great Western Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Mr Lockey was working for Swindon-based subcontractors John Laing, which had been hired to build storage sheds at the school by its management firm Equion FM.

He had been working with others in a cordoned-off area and the pupils affected were not in this area.

Headteacher Terri Menham, who was preparing for the school's first ever parents evening, said: "Three children were in the vicinity, but not in the cordoned-off area, and we have contacted their parents and they have taken them home.

"We won't know exactly what they saw, but their parents have had what's happened explained to them.

"We have made sure all the children left school from the front of the building, and it was a normal end of the school day.

"We are hugely saddened and shocked by what has happened."

Wiltshire Police spent the afternoon examining the scene and officers have briefed the HSE who were also on the site.

Det Sgt Alan Strike said: "Wiltshire Police and the HSE are investigating the circumstances of a fatal accident with a dumper truck. There are no suspicious circumstances.

"The school is a PFI construction and there are several companies involved. One has subcontracted out to another company to do additional work, and it is a male subcontractor who has died."

He said police were speaking to witnesses to establish what happened to Mr Lockey, and that they would be working with the school to offer support to pupils and staff.

"It has affected the workings of the school," Det Sgt Strike said.

"We came in and there were a lot of police officers here, including uniformed officers who responded first.

"It appears to be a tragic accident."

As the Advertiser went to press a family liaison officer was believed to have been with the family of the deceased man.

Sarah Hudd, operations manager for John Laing, said that the firm would be cooperating with the HSE to ensure a "full and thorough investigation" will be carried out.

"Our first throughts at this time are with the man's family," she added.