Daily Mail : Was MI6 spy victim of the perfect murder?

Was MI6 spy victim of the perfect murder?

By Charlotte Gill and Emily Andrews | August 31, 2010

Pathologists are investigating whether MI6 spy Gareth Williams could have been the victim of the ‘perfect murder’.

There are no signs of a violent struggle on the body of the cipher and codes specialist and it is possible that the cause of his death will never be fully discovered.

Doctors examining the body of the 31-year-old for clues are focusing on any evidence which would suggest a professional hit and are scrutinising the area around his neck, sources said.

A seasoned assassin may be able to inflict a ‘discreet’ neck wound that could kill even though it would not look as obvious as a snapped neck.

Detectives are keenly awaiting the results of toxicology tests in the hope they will reveal some clues as to how Mr Williams died.

They could indicate whether the cycling fanatic was smothered or if he was drugged.

One theory is that he could have been injected with a deadly toxin which is not immediately identifiable by toxicologists.

In the 2006 poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvenenko, it took weeks for investigators to discover that the killer substance was polonium 210.

Using high-tech ‘cell site analysis’, police are also trawling through hundreds of numbers for mobile phones which were used in the close vicinity of Mr Williams’s flat at the time he is thought to have died to see if any names registered to the phones throw up clues.

The technique will also help detectives piece together his last movements by tracking his mobile phone.

Such analysis can pinpoint where a phone was used to ‘cells’, an area which can be as precise as 200 square yards.

Police are also sifting through Mr Williams’s SIM card records to trace every call that he made.

Officers on the case have yet to discover a motive for his murder.

There is no evidence so far to suggest that he was gay and Scotland Yard has denied speculation that gay paraphernalia was discovered in the flat where his body was found or that there is any link to a male escort.

His family and friends reacted furiously to ‘untruths’ that he led a colourful homosexual lifestyle, claiming the rumours could be government smears aimed at discrediting him.

They have told police that Mr Williams was a private, reserved man who was close to his family and loved his job.

He was found dead last Monday at his £400,000 flat in Pimlico, central London, just half a mile from the headquarters of MI6. His body was discovered in the bath stuffed into a sports holdall.

One line of inquiry is that Mr Williams could have died in an accident and that his body was later moved for some reason.

Although it is highly likely that he was murdered, the Metropolitan Police continue to describe his death as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.

Mr Williams is said to have played an important role in the development of a highly sensitive and secret electronic intelligence gathering system called Echelon and was helping with a new system to monitor internet phone calls such as Skype.

There have been no arrests in the case so far.

On Friday Scotland Yard issued an appeal to anyone who knew Mr Williams or may have seen him in the eight days before his body was found to come forward.

Telegraph : Spy murder case could be too sensitive for court

Spy murder case could be too sensitive for court

By John Bingham | August 31, 2010

The true explanation for the murder of Gareth Williams, the MI6 codebreaker found dead in a bath, may have to be kept secret even if his killer is found and put on trial, lawyers have warned.

The intense secrecy surrounding the investigation has prompted speculation that any future court case could be the first murder trial in British legal history to be held entirely behind closed doors.

Mr Williams, 31, an employee of GCHQ, the government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos, who was working on secondment to MI6 in London, was found dead at a flat in London last week.

No one has been arrested and police have been investigating Mr Williams’s background as well as his movements in the days before his death.

But it is thought that the unique level of sensitivity around the case – with the dead man, his workmates, his movements and even the flat where he was found all linked to the security services – could make any future court case virtually impossible to try in public.

Lawyers said that powers already available under the criminal procedure rules 2005 could be used by a judge to hold all or part of any future trial in secret for reasons of national security.

Under a separate procedure the prosecution could even apply for a “Public Interest Immunity certificate” banning sensitive evidence being disclosed even to the defence.

Similar powers were recently used by David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary, in an attempt to prevent three senior judges disclosing details about the treatment of Binyam Mohamed, the former Guantánamo Bay detainee.

In 2008 the case of Wang Yam, a financial adviser accused of murdering Allan Chappelow, an 86-year-old writer, made legal history when it was heard partly in secret.

The public and press were excluded while the defence case was heard, despite objections from Yam’s legal team, on “national security” grounds after a PII certificate was granted, following an application from Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary.

With details of the investigation into Mr Williams’s death already clouded in secrecy, lawyers said that a similar approach could be taken in any future court case, with the entire trial potentially held in private.

“The runes are that they are desperate, almost at any cost, to keep this under wraps," said Mark Stephens, a partner at Finers Stephens Innocent, who led a legal challenge in the Binyam Mohamed case.

“It may be that there is a genuine national security interest but that will be very limited.

“What on has to be guarding against is that somebody is claiming national security in the interests of covering up a degree of embarrassment or incompetence or some other interest which isn’t national security.” Dan Hyde, a consultant at Cubism Law, said: “On the face of it there certainly seem to be parallels that can be drawn from the case of Allan Chappelow.

“That was a case where there were public interest immunity issues and as a result it was one of those very rare cases in which the defence was presented in camera, that is in private.

“It seems this is a case that is surrounded by intrigue, you have someone who was working for MI6, his body was found in a bag and the police did not categorise it as a murder inquiry.”

Telegraph : Spy Gareth Williams 'in good spirits' before death, family say

Spy Gareth Williams 'in good spirits' before death, family say

By John Bingham | August 31, 2010

The family of a British spy found dead in a bag in his bath insisted last night he was “happy and in good spirits”, casting doubt on claims his personal or financial problems played a role in his death.


Relatives of Gareth Williams described him as “steady, quiet and well balanced” and said he had shown no sign of any change in recent months.

It came as one former friend of the MI6 codebreaker claimed that he had been plagued by his own “demons”.

Pathologists have been unable to explain how the 31-year-old, whose body was found in a sports bag in the bath of a flat in Pimlico, central London, last week, died.

Remembered by school mates as a “maths genius”, Mr Williams was on a one-year secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, the government’s “listening post” in Cheltenham, Glos, where he worked for almost a decade.

His position regularly took him to the US where he liaised with the National Security Agency and the CIA and he is also reported to have made a number of visits to Afghanistan.

There were no obvious injuries on his body, which is thought to have lain undiscovered for more than a week and further tests are being carried out after a post mortem examination proved inconclusive.

Although detectives are working on the assumption that he was murdered they have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident, from an overdose or even suicide.

One theory is that someone who was present at the time panicked and put his body in the bag but failed to remove it.

William Hughes, 61, Mr Williams’s uncle, insisted there was “no way” he could have taken his own life.

“He just wasn't that kind of person,” said Mr Hughes, who lives near the home of Mr Williams's parents, Ian and Ellen, in Anglesey, north Wales.

“He was always very steady. He was a quiet person, but he was a happy one, there'd been no shift in his personality.”

He added: “I saw Gareth a couple of months ago when he came home for a cycling event and he was in good spirits.

“He was just the same as he always was – friendly, happy and well balanced.”

Police have been interviewing friends and family in an attempt to find possible clues in his background.

But detectives have played down lurid claims that Mr Williams, remembered as a solitary figure despite his heavy involvement in competitive cycling, could have died in some form of sexual game.

Reports that a series of payments into and out of his bank account remain unaccounted for have also been dismissed as “speculation”.

This Is London : Spy-in-a-bag tests could show how he died

Spy-in-a-bag tests could show how he died

Justin Davenport, Crime Editor | August 31, 2010

Toxicology test results which could show how British spy Gareth Williams met his death are expected to be revealed within days.

The body of the 31-year-old was found in a sports bag in the bath of his Pimlico flat last week but pathologists have been unable to explain how he died.

The maths genius was on secondment to MI6 in London and was within days of returning to his job as a codebreaker with the Government's GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham.

His work as a cipher and codes specialist regularly took him to the US, where he liaised with the National Security Agency and the CIA, and it is reported that he also made a number of visits to Afghanistan.

His body was found in his flat on Monday, August 23, eight days after he was last seen on Sunday, August 15, though police have refused to say where he was when last sighted.

There were no obvious injuries on his body and police hope that tests could show if he was poisoned, drugged or smothered.

Detectives are working on the assumption he was murdered but have not ruled out the possibility that Mr Williams died in a bizarre accident from an overdose or a sex game that went wrong.

His family, angered at claims that he led a homosexual lifestyle, said some of the rumours could be smears aimed at discrediting him.

They issued a statement saying: “Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person. He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music.”

Express : DEAD MI6 SPY ‘NOT SUICIDAL’

DEAD MI6 SPY ‘NOT SUICIDAL’

By Daily Express Reporter | August 31, 2010

GARETH Williams was not suicidal at the time of his death, his family insisted last night.

The MI6 worker’s uncle said there is “no way” Mr Williams would have taken his own life.

The 31-year-old’s body was found at his flat in Pimilico, central London, last week.

Last night William Hughes, 61, said: “There’s absolutely no way Gareth would have killed himself.”

Mr Hughes, who lives near Mr Williams’ parents in Anglesey, north wales, added: “I saw Gareth a couple of months ago and he was in good spirits. He was the same as always – friendly, happy and well balanced.

“We’d be amazed if he had any suicidal thoughts. He just wasn’t that kind of person. He was very steady.

“He was a quiet person, but he was happy. There’d been no shift in his personality.”

Tech Eye : Top codebreaker intercepted terror emails

Top codebreaker intercepted terror emails

Now mysteriously dead

by Nick Farrell in Rome | August 31, 2010

A British codebreaker, who was found mysteriously dead in his flat, worked with the National Security Agency (NSA) and British intelligence to intercept e-mail messages that helped convict would-be bombers in the UK.

Gareth Williams, 31, helped British and US spooks intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan.

According to Wired, he was behind the conviction of three men accused of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights.

Williams worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications. He had just finished a year contract with MI6 when his body turned up stuffed into a duffel bag in his bath. He had been dead for two weeks.

His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body. The door had not been forced and there was no sign of a struggle. There was no indication that he was up to any bizarre sex games either.

Other than the fact his body had ended up in a duffel bag there were no obvious signs of foul play. Wired points out that it would be difficult for a person to stuff themselves into a duffel bag after they were dead.

If he had been bumped off because of his services to Queen and country you would have expected the phones to be taken. If he had topped himself, he would not have stuffed himself in a duffle bag, if he had been murdered he might have put up a bit of a fight. Sounds like a case for Sherlock. But he is not real.

Advocate : Family Says Dead Spy Not Gay

Family Says Dead Spy Not Gay

By Advocate.com Editors | August 31, 2010

Scotland Yard investigators said Monday that there is no evidence that an MI6 spy who was found dead in his apartment last week was gay.

Gareth Williams, 31, was found dead in his apartment in central London on August 23. Williams's body was found in a bag placed in his bathtub and had been there for several days, according to the Daily Mail. Investigators now say they believe Williams died in a bizarre accident and was placed in the bag much later.

While initial reports said Williams lived a private life and that his family was unaware of his sexual orientation, his family and friends now say there is no evidence to support reports he was gay and that statements to that effect are being used to smear him.

Daily Post : Anglesey spy Gareth Williams cause of death still days away

Anglesey spy Gareth Williams cause of death still days away

By Sara Thomas, Daily Post | August 30, 2010

INVESTIGATORS are still days away from finding out the exact cause of death of British code-breaker Gareth Williams, according to police.

The complicated nature of the tests currently being carried out mean it could be well into next week before police are able to piece together how the Anglesey maths genius died.

A post mortem examination last week proved inconclusive and officers are still days away from determining if he was asphyxiated, poisoned or if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.

He was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a bag at his flat.

A confirmed sighting of Mr Williams, 30, was made on August 15 in London, officers said.

But police would not say whether the sighting was made on CCTV or came from another source.

The investigation is being led by the Met’s Homicide Command with the security-vetted Counter Terror Command (SO15) also playing a lesser role in proceedings.

Scotland Yard are playing down reports that thousands of pounds had passed through Mr Williams’ bank account shortly before his death as “pure speculation”.

It was reported that three sums of £2,000 were paid into his account on consecutive days and then withdrawn on consecutive days.

Meanwhile, Mr Williams’ family, who live in Valley, hit out at rumours that suggested the dead man was involved in risky sexual practices.

In a statement they said speculation linking the secret service employee to a male escort and bondage equipment had been “very distressing”.

Mr Williams, who was on secondment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in the bath of his Government flat last Monday.

As police continued to investigate whether the GCHQ codes expert lived a secret double life, his family paid tribute to the murdered spy.

They said: “Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person.

“He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music.

“His loss has devastated us and we would ask anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We can confirm that Mr Williams was in London from Wednesday August 11, and what officers believe is the last confirmed sighting of him still alive in London was on Sunday August 15.”

Police turned their focus to Mr Williams’ private life as they attempt to account for his death.

He was days from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, in Vauxhall, London.

He was due to return to a rented flat in Cheltenham where Government Communications Headquarters, GCHQ, is based.

Mr Williams also worked for the United States National Security Agency and made regular trips to Washington DC and Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

Last week a pathologist found Mr Williams was not stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation.

Police refused to categorise the death as a murder, despite the bizarre circumstances and say he may have died innocently.

They were considering whether he became the victim of a sex game that went wrong.

Officers are examining his mobile phone and financial records.

They suspect he may have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.

But questions remain over why his body was not discovered earlier.

Wired : Dead Codebreaker Was Linked to NSA Intercept Case

Dead Codebreaker Was Linked to NSA Intercept Case

By Kim Zetter | August 30, 2010

A top British codebreaker found mysteriously dead last week in his flat had worked with the NSA and British intelligence to intercept e-mail messages that helped convict would-be bombers in the U.K., according to a news report.

Gareth Williams, 31, made repeated visits to the U.S. to meet with the National Security Agency and worked closely with British and U.S. spy agencies to intercept and examine communications that passed between an al Qaeda official in Pakistan and three men who were convicted last year of plotting to bomb transcontinental flights, according to the British paper the Mirror.

Williams, described by those who knew him as a “math genius,” worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) helping to break coded Taliban communications, among other things. He was just completing a year-long stint with MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, when his body was found stuffed into a duffel bag in his bathtub. He’d been dead for at least two weeks. His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were laid out on a table near the body, according to news reports. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment and no signs of a struggle.

Initial news stories indicated Williams had been stabbed, but police have since disputed that information, noting that — other than being stuffed into a duffel bag — there were no obvious signs of foul play. A toxicology report is expected Tuesday.

The NSA wiretaps the internet from this secured room in an AT&T building in San Francisco, and similar rooms around the U.S., according to whistleblower Mark Klein.

Investigators say they haven’t ruled out the possibility that the codebreaker was killed over something related to his work. Rumors that sexual bondage equipment was found in his apartment were also nixed by police, who said the rumors were untrue and they found no evidence yet to suggest that anything in Williams’ personal life led to his death.

Williams, an avid cyclist, lived in an apartment in Pimlico in central London that was reportedly part of a network of flats registered to an offshore front company and rented out to GCHQ workers. He is believed to have returned from a trip abroad on August 11. He was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before his body was found.

Williams flew up to four times a year to the U.S. to the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade HQ, according to the Mirror. His uncle, Michael Hughes, told the paper that Williams would mysteriously disappear for three or four weeks.

“The trips were very hush-hush,” Hughes said. “They were so secret that I only recently found out about them – and we’re a very close family. It had become part of his job in the past few years. His last trip out there was a few weeks ago, but he was regularly back and forth.”

Williams was said to have worked with the NSA on e-mails intercepted between Abdullah Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar and Rashid Rauf, a British national in Pakistan who was allegedly director of European operations for al Qaeda. The e-mails, intercepted by the NSA in 2006, allegedly contained coded messages.

The NSA shared the e-mails with British prosecutors but wouldn’t allow them to use the evidence in an early trial of the suspects out of fear of tipping off Rauf that he was under surveillance. It was only after Rauf was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone attack that the NSA allowed prosecutors to use the e-mails to convict the other suspects. It’s never been known whether the NSA intercepted the messages overseas or siphoned them as they passed through internet nodes on U.S. soil as part of the NSA’s controversial and unconstitutional warrantless wiretapping program.

An unidentified Western intelligence source told the Mirror that Williams’ job would have had him participating in “crucial high-level meetings with American intelligence officers. His job would have been crucial to the security of the UK and our interests abroad – and also to America and Europe.

“Although not particularly high up the GCHQ ladder, the importance of his role should not be underestimated. The man was a mathematical genius.”

His landlady, Jenny Elliott, told the Telegraph, “Occasionally you could hear tapes whirring from his flat, which must have been audio cassettes he used for work, but he never told me what they were.”

Daily Mail : The dead MI6 spy was an unsung hero, so why are shadowy figures trying to blacken his name?

The dead MI6 spy was an unsung hero, so why are shadowy figures trying to blacken his name?

By Melanie Phillips | August 30, 2010

George Smiley would never have behaved like this. Ever since the body of the GCHQ code-breaker Gareth Williams was discovered stuffed into a hold-all in his bath, we have been treated to a stream of unsavoury and contradictory leaks from mysterious sources.

The story is throwing up more obfuscatory trade-craft than a John Le Carré novel. Of course, the secret intelligence world must of necessity work in a deeply shadowy way - concealing its tracks, laying false trails and employing sundry other means of disinformation.

It does so in order to keep this country safe from its enemies. So much is generally accepted.

But when one of its number is found apparently murdered in a flat in central London, you do not expect these black arts of subterfuge to continue.

You certainly don't expect them to thwart the investigation of an apparently sinister death or cause further and needless distress to the dead man's bereaved parents.

Yet this is precisely what seems to have happened after the discovery of Mr Williams's body.

It appears that he was no ordinary GCHQ operative but a vitally important contributor to the defence of the West.

A brilliant mathematical boffin, he was helping to oversee a network which links satellites and super-computers in Britain and the U.S. with those of other key allies.

He had also worked on breaking coded Taliban messages, helping to save the lives of countless British and other Nato soldiers under attack in Afghanistan.

So his death would seem to have serious security implications of one kind or another - including the possibility that he was murdered by enemies of this country.

Yet shadowy unnamed sources started putting it about that 'bondage equipment and gay paraphernalia' were found in his flat.

The implication was that his death was caused by some seedy sadomasochistic practice that went wrong.

At a stroke, Mr Williams's reputation was trashed - transforming him from an unsung hero of his nation into the sordid author of his own terminal misfortune.

Not surprisingly, this planted suggestion greatly upset his grieving family, who protested at the 'horrible and completely fictitious accounts of his private life'.

More remarkably, it was refuted in the strongest possible terms by the police who said no such paraphernalia had been found in Mr Williams's flat - although they wouldn't comment on the suggestion that he was indeed gay.

None of us has the faintest idea why or how he died. But why would these shadowy sources - whoever they may be - want to blacken his name like this? Of course, it is possible that he was killed by a lover.

Most killings, after all, have a rather more prosaic cause than an assassination perpetrated by clandestine agents.

But why plant this suggestion - and in the most lurid and apparently untruthful way - before the police have even established how or when he met his death?

Maybe a clue lies in the further claim that some £18,000 disappeared from one of his bank accounts two months ago - money reportedly moved 'by complex means', leading to speculation that Mr Williams was being blackmailed.

It is possible there is an entirely innocent explanation for all that, too. But why are we being treated to this drip-drip of partial, sensational and contradictory information while a criminal investigation is going on?

It all sounds disturbingly similar to the case of Jonathan Moyle, another British intelligence agent whose body was found hanging inside a hotel wardrobe in the Chilean capital Santiago in 1990 with a padded noose around his neck.

He had been investigating a company which was modifying helicopters, possibly to carry nuclear weapons, to sell to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

But MI6 planted the suggestion that he had died while engaged in an auto-erotic act. It took his outraged father to discover that his son had probably been drugged, suffocated, injected with a lethal substance and then strung up in the wardrobe - a view supported by the British coroner, who returned a verdict of unlawful killing at his inquest eight years later.

In the Williams case, it appears that a turf-war has broken out between the police and the intelligence world, with the police complaining that the spooks are hindering their investigation.

Shadowy

So just what does the intelligence world want to cover up in this case? Of course, it is possible that disclosure of the precise circumstances of Mr Williams's death would compromise national security in some way.

But it is also possible there is a less honourable motive for the dirty tricks being played in this investigation.


Maybe the intelligence world doesn't want us to know that it didn't vet Mr Williams thoroughly enough; or alternatvely that it shockingly failed to protect the life of its invaluable code-breaker from foreign or terrorist assailants; or maybe it wants to conceal the identity of a country or group that killed him in order to serve some diplomatic end or other.

Who knows? All we can see is that some very peculiar game is being played around this man's demise.

And it's hard not to put this together with that other mystery over the death of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly in 2003.

He was said to have committed suicide during the controversy over the Iraq war - a conclusion endorsed by the official inquiry that replaced an inquest into his death.

Yet the evidence suggests that he could not have killed himself, as we have been told, by slitting his ulnar artery and taking an overdose of pills - not least because there was not much blood at the scene and fewer than one tablet was found in his stomach.

We also learn that people who wanted or needed to give evidence at the inquiry were never called to do so.

Now the pathologist who inspected his body has insisted this was a 'textbook suicide' - an account that raises more questions than it answers.

Conspiracy

True, the idea that Dr Kelly was murdered and that this was covered up in an official conspiracy seems too implausible to be true.

Yet he did possess unique expertise in biological weapons intelligence. So there was a long list of terror organisations or rogue states that may have wanted him dead.

And if it is indeed true that the intelligence world sometimes plants false information that key operatives who have been murdered have instead been responsible for their own deaths, then the questions about Dr Kelly's 'suicide' become even more urgent.

No one expects the intelligence services to reveal their trade secrets or to compromise national security.

But they are also the servants of a free society. And that means they must observe due process - which means unexplained deaths must be properly investigated.

That means a transparent and thorough investigation. It means holding a proper inquest where evidence about the cause of death can be properly aired and interrogated. And it means not dripping salacious snippets manipulatively into the public domain.

We must also not lose sight of the fact that, however they died, the loss of both David Kelly and now gareth Williams has deprived us of two of the most brilliant minds in the intelligence world.

With their deaths, the defences of this country have been left that much weaker.

The coincidence of two random and unfortunate events? Perhaps. Who knows?

At this rate, none of us will do so.

Telegraph : Spy death may be linked to MI6 work

Spy death may be linked to MI6 work

By Richard Edwards and Duncan Gardham | August 30, 2010

Police have not ruled out the possibility that the death of a British spy could be linked to his work after investigations into his private life failed to provide a motive for his murder.

Detectives say they are still looking at whether Gareth Williams may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his work on intercepting messages and code-breaking.

Interviews with friends and family of Mr Williams, 30, have offered no clear leads as to how or why he died. Checks on his phone records and bank accounts have also yet to provide anything conclusive.

As to Mr Williams’s social life, reports that he may have died in a sex game gone wrong have been played down by police, who say that although he may have visited a gay bar, they have found nothing to suggest that sex played a role in his death.

As a result, sources say they are continuing to co-operate closely with MI6, where Mr Williams was finishing a year-long secondment from GCHQ, and interviewing colleagues.

They are also investigating links with the US where he made a number of trips to liaise with the National Security Agency and the CIA.

He is thought to have returned to Britain from a foreign trip on Aug 11 and was last seen alive on Aug 15, eight days before his body was found in a holdall and left in his bath at the MI6 flat where he lived in Pimlico, London.

Investigators are keeping details of his exact movements secret to avoid encouraging spurious sightings. One source said: “Those people who know him will come forward and those who do not and have something to hide, we will track down.”

Sources close to the inquiry said they are looking at the possibility that his body was manhandled into the bag in order to remove it from the premises. They are searching the flat for fingerprints and DNA to determine if anyone was present when he died.

A pathologist has been unable to identify why Mr Williams died but toxicology test results are expected in the next few days that should identify whether he was smothered, poisoned or had taken drugs.

The keen cyclist seems to have had few close friends and been willing to confide little about his work or private life. Officers are eager not to jump to any conclusions about why Mr Williams was killed, or even whether he could have died in a bizarre accident and his body then moved.

One senior detective said: “It is possible he was the victim of a political assassination but the reality may be more mundane.”

Mr Williams’s family in Wales have said the continued speculation about his private life is “very distressing”.

Telegraph : British spy death: police probe links to secret work

British spy death: police probe links to secret work

By Richard Edwards and Duncan Gardham | August 30, 2010

Police have not ruled out the possibility that the death of a British spy could be linked to his work after investigations into his private life failed to provide a motive for his murder.

Murder detectives say they are still looking at whether Gareth Williams may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his work on intercepting messages and code-breaking.

Interviews with friends and family of Mr Williams, 30, have so far offered no clear leads as to how or why he died.

Checks on his phone records and bank accounts also appear to have drawn a blank.

As to Mr William's social life, lurid reports that he may have died in a sex game gone wrong have been played down by police who say that although he was seen visiting a gay bar, they have not yet categorically determined his sexuality.

As a result sources say they are continuing to co-operate closely with MI6, where Mr Williams was finishing a year-long secondment from GCHQ, and interviewing colleagues. They are also investigating links with the US where he made a number of trips abroad to liaise with the National Security Agency and the CIA in the US.

He is thought to have returned to Britain from a foreign trip on August 11 and was last seen on alive on August 15, eight days before his body was discovered, although investigators are keeping details of his exact movements under wraps in order to avoid encouraging spurious sightings.

`Those people who know him will come forward and those who do not and have something to hide, we will track down,` one source told the Daily Telegraph.

`Everyone he worked with wants to understand why he died and we are confident the truth will come out.`

Police are struggling to work out why Mr Williams may have been killed and his body put into a holdall and left in his bath at the MI6 flat where he lived in Pimlico, central London.

Sources close to the inquiry said they are looking at the possibility that his body was manhandled into the bag in order to remove it from the premises.

They are continuing a painstaking re-examination of the flat, searching for fingerprints and DNA that could identify whether anyone else was present when he died.

So far a pathologist has been unable to identify why Mr Williams died but the results from toxicology tests are expected in the next few days.

That should identify whether he was smothered or whether he was drugged or poisoned.

The keen cyclist seems to have had few close friends and been willing to confide little about his work or private life even with his family. They are there expanding the circle of acquaintances they speak to in the hope of unearthing any connection that might shed light on his death.

Police are aware of reports that Mr Williams visited a gay bar near the MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall Cross called Bar code.

One man who met him, Lemuel Miller, a medical student from Selhurst, South London, said: `He was a very sweet guy. He came here when he was

in London. He was very intelligent, he never really talked about his work.’

Officers are keen not to jump to any conclusions about why Mr Williams was killed, or even whether he could have died in a bizarre accident and his body then moved.

One senior detective said: `It is possible he was the victim of a political assassination but the reality may be more mundane.`

Sources have denied reports that bondage equipment was found in the flat or that the body had been stabbed or dismembered.

But Mr Williams’s personal life was such a mystery that they are unsure whether he was in a relationship and do not want to suggest that he was the victim of a homosexual killing.

His family in Wales have said the continued speculation about his private life is `very distressing’ but called for anyone with information to come forward.

'Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person,` they said in a statement. 'He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music. His loss has devastated us and we would ask that anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry.'

Daily Mail : Police find 'no evidence' that dead MI6 agent was gay

Police find 'no evidence' that dead MI6 agent was gay

By Daily Mail Reporter | August 30, 2010

Investigators have found no evidence so far that murdered MI6 spy Gareth Williams was gay, it emerged yesterday.

His family and friends have said there was nothing to suggest he was gay and have reacted furiously to ‘untruths’ that he led a colourful homosexual lifestyle, claiming the rumours could be government smears aimed at discrediting him.

Police inquiries have supported their view that he was not gay. Scotland Yard has denied speculation that gay paraphernalia was discovered in the flat or that there is any link to a male escort.

Mr Williams was found dead last Monday at his £400,000 flat in Pimlico, central London, just half a mile from MI6 headquarters. His body was discovered in the bath stuffed into a sports holdall.

Although it is highly likely that he was murdered, the post mortem revealed no signs of a violent struggle. Toxicology results to show if poison, drugs, alcohol or asphyxiation could be the cause may not come back until later this week.

One line of enquiry is that the cipher and codes specialist could have died in a bizarre accident and that his body was later put in the bag.

Detectives are also looking at whether he may have been killed by a foreign intelligence agency seeking to stop his work on intercepting messages and code-breaking, the Telegraph reported.

The Metropolitan police continue to describe his death as ‘suspicious and unexplained’.

It was reported yesterday that £18,000 had also disappeared from Mr Williams’ bank account two months ago and had yet to be traced.

Detectives are trying to establish where the money, said to be moved by ‘complex means’, ended up, it is claimed.

The sum was reportedly moved from Mr Williams’ online deposit account. It is understood that his salary was paid into another account.

There may be a perfectly innocent explanation for the transaction, it could also suggest that Mr Williams was being blackmailed or selling information.

A security source said any ‘unexplained’ movements of money in the Mr Williams’ bank accounts were being scrutinised for clues as to how he met his death.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Williams was thought to have made at least two trips to Afghanistan, helping break coded Taliban messages at MI6’s key listening station in Kabul.

He is also said to have played an important role in the development of a highly sensitive and secret electronic intelligence gathering system called Echelon and was helping with a new system to monitor internet phone calls such as Skype.

There were also reports that Mr Williams, who was single and lived alone, had frequented a gay bar in Vauxhall, South London just yards from MI6 headquarters.

There have been no arrests and on Friday Scotland Yard issued an appeal to anyone who knew Mr Williams or may have seen him in the eight days before his body was found to come forward.

Independent : Police reject rumours surrounding MI6 man found dead in flat

Police reject rumours surrounding MI6 man found dead in flat

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent | August 30, 2010

Police took the unusual decision yesterday to step in and deny increasingly lurid reports about the private life of the murdered GCHQ officer Gareth Williams.

Scotland Yard sources said that reports of bondage equipment found at his flat and a "ritualistic" arrangement of his possessions were untrue. A spokesman later added that the detective team investigating the death, had clarified the accuracy of the reports "out of respect" for Mr Williams' relatives.

Mr William's body was found stuffed into a holdall in the bathroom on his home in Pimlico, central London, last week. Since the discovery suggestions regarding Mr Williams' private life and sexual tendencies have been rife.

Reports included the suggestion that the 30-year-old was, variously, a male escort or a transvestite; that bondage equipment had been found at his flat; and that a dozen mobile phone SIM cards had been laid out in a ritualistic manner in his home.

His family said they feared there was a smear campaign. Mr Williams' uncle told newspapers: "The family are concerned it may have been an attempt to put false, unkind details about Gareth's private life into the public domain to diminish him and take attention away from the security services he worked so loyally for."

All police have previously confirmed is that they are investigating a "suspicious death" – preferring that term to murder – and that the last known sighting of Mr Williams was in London on Sunday 15 August, eight days before his body was found. Initial reports said he had not been seen for a fortnight.

His body was discovered when police were called to check on him after a colleague voiced concerns.

Those scant details aside, little is known about precisely when, why or how Mr Williams died. As is usual in such cases, police have not confirmed any potential motive they are investigating. Early speculation suggested that Mr Williams' job may have been the reason for his death. But latterly, the focus has shone more on his personal life. Last week a pathologist was unable to establish a cause of death. Toxicology tests will determine if he was poisoned, or if drugs or alcohol were a factor. But the report suggested he was not stabbed.

On Saturday night Channel 4 News claimed that the initial police report had stated that Mr Williams' death was a "neat job", suggesting that he was killed by someone who knew what they were doing.

There are also suggestions that Scotland Yard detectives have become frustrated with the interference of colleagues in the intelligence agencies who are not used to their own organisations or employees being the subject of investigations. Police are also said to be investigating payments and withdrawals of thousands of pounds into and out of Mr Williams' bank account in the days leading up to his death.

Mirror : Gareth Williams death: Detectives won't rule out link to spy job - Exclusive

Gareth Williams death: Detectives won't rule out link to spy job - Exclusive

By Jon Clements and Josh Layton | August 30, 2010

Detectives investigating the death of code-breaker Gareth Williams have not ruled out a link to his job.

Officers are "completely open-minded" about the circumstances of the MI6 officer's death and insist it is too early to rule out a connection with national security.

A source told the Mirror: "There has been a lot of talk that the key to this tragedy must lie in his personal life. Well, that isn't necessarily the case and until more facts are known all the possibilities are still there."

Mr Williams' body was found last week inside a red bag in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, Central London. Detectives suspect someone was planning to move Mr Williams' body in the bag at a later date.

His parents Ian and Ellen Williams have been devastated by claims that bondage gear was found at the property and alleged links to gay escorts.

Scotland Yard yesterday refused to comment on reports that a wig and make-up were also found, as fresh claims surfaced linking keen cyclist Mr Williams to a gay bar near MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall, South London.

Meanwhile insiders confirmed the 31-year-old's financial affairs were being closely examined but stressed there was no evidence of blackmail.

Last week a pathologist was unable to establish cause of death and the results of a second postmortem are expected tomorrow.

Daily Star : SPY PROBE FOR LINKS WITH GAY COMMUNITY

SPY PROBE FOR LINKS WITH GAY COMMUNITY

By Jerry Lawton | August 30, 2010

POLICE probing spy Gareth Williams’s bizarre death are trying to establish whether he was involved in the gay community.

Customers in a gay bar on the doorstep of MI6’s HQ said the 31-year-old maths genius was a regular visitor and “very sweet guy”.

Medical student Lemuel Miller said the spy had frequently visited trendy Barcode in Vauxhall, south London.

“I often saw Gareth here and spent an evening last summer chatting to him and a group of other guys,” he said.

“He was a very sweet guy. He was intelligent but never talked about his work.”

Fellow regular Matt Green, 38, a music producer, added: “He was shy but seemed comfortable here.”

But yesterday Gareth’s family insisted his reputation was being smeared to take the pressure off the security services.

And his uncle William Hughes said the secret agent, who had twice been to Afghanistan to crack the Taliban’s secret codes, had a girlfriend for the past year.

Mr Hughes said: “It never crossed our minds that he could be gay.”

Gareth was found dead in a sports bag in his flat in Pimlico, London.

Detectives believe unlocking the mysteries surrounding his private life is ­vital in determining if his death was triggered by sex, money, or terrorism. But they have reportedly been frustrated by security chiefs blocking their inquiries “at every turn”.

Officers are also investigating Gareth’s bank accounts. Three sums of £2,000 were paid in and immediately withdrawn, the last time on the eve of his death, suggesting he was possibly being blackmailed.

Express : SPY FAMILY’S FURY AT BLACKMAIL ‘LIES’

SPY FAMILY’S FURY AT BLACKMAIL ‘LIES’

By John Twomey | August 30, 2010

THE family of murdered spy Gareth Williams yesterday dismissed claims that he was being blackmailed.

Relatives hit out at “untrue rumours” as detectives probed money transfers totalling £24,000 to and from the code breaker’s accounts.

The biggest single movement of cash is believed to be £18,000 withdrawn from one of his accounts eight weeks ago.

Three sums of £2,000 paid in and then out of the 31-yearold’s accounts on consecutive days are also being examined. Two bundles of £500 – one in an envelope and the other tied with an elastic band – are said to have been found in the flat where he died.

But relatives of the brilliant mathematician are convinced the transfers and the bundles of cash all have totally innocent explanations. They say the allegations of blackmail and rumours about his private life have now become “intolerable”.

Mr Williams’ uncle, Bill Hughes, said: “We know nothing of this. It’s another example of unsupported rumours being allowed to circulate. To the best of our knowledge, Gareth wasn’t gay and wasn’t being blackmailed.” Mr Williams was found dead in the bath of his top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, last Monday.

His body had been stuffed into a sports holdall and may have lain there for up to eight days. The bag was padlocked. One theory that detectives are working on is that Mr Williams knew his killer and let him into the flat. A post-mortem examination last week proved inconclusive. Further tests are being carried out.

Forensic experts returned to the scene of the murder on Friday in a bid to find clues which will solve the mystery. Mr Willaims worked for the Government’s listening post GCHQ in Cheltenham and was on secondment to MI6. He made frequent trips to America, including visits to the National Security Agency’s Fort Meade base in Maryland.

He is said to have played a key role in the world’s most sensitive electronic intelligence gathering system, linking satellites and super computers in Britain, the US and elsewhere. Murder squad detectives are trying to piece together a detailed picture of the last days of the spy’s life.

He was last seen alive on August 15 in London. Inquiries have include tracing the spy’s neighbours and previous tenants of the flat where he lived. Police are also understood to be asking about another GCHQ worker who used to live in the same house as the murdered man.

The First Post : MI6 murder: Who planted the gay contacts stories?

MI6 murder: Who planted the gay contacts stories?

Gareth Williams’s uncle points finger at the state - and there is a precedent

By Nigel Horne | August 30, 2010

The case of Gareth Williams, the murdered MI6 codebreaker, becomes curiouser and curiouser. The First Post was among the first to suggest that the 'evidence' pointing towards a homosexual and/or sadomasochistic murder might be a ruse, possibly planted by the killer to lead investigators astray.

Now it appears we were right to be suspicious - but that the misinformation might not be the work of the killer, as we suggested, but of the government, possibly MI6 itself.

Police who found Williams's body at his Pimlico flat have now made it clear that reports about the discovery of bondage gear, gay contact magazines and male escorts' phone numbers at the scene are quite wrong. No such things were found.

According to the Guardian, the officers described the killing as "a neat job", indicating a professional hit.

So who has been putting out the story that Williams might have been part of a London gay scene and was probably killed as a result?

Williams's uncle, William Hughes, says the dead man's family have been "furious" at the way the innuendo has been allowed to circulate. He believes that some agency of the government might be trying to discredit Williams by creating a smear campaign.

With that in mind, it is instructive to recall the case of another MI6 man, Jonathan Moyle, who died 20 years ago.

Moyle was the 28-year-old editor of the magazine Defence Helicopter World. He was found dead in a bedroom at the Carrera Hotel in Santiago in 1990. It later transpired that he had been employed by MI6 and was visiting the Chilean capital to investigate an arms dealer trying to sell helicopters to Saddam Hussein.

His body was found hanging inside his hotel room wardrobe with a padded noose around his neck. In other words, it looked like a sex game gone tragically wrong. Later, a Foreign Office official, believed to be an MI6 source, let it slip at a reception that Moyle had died accidentally while engaged in an auto-erotic act.

Just as Williams's parents don't believe a word of the stories circulating about their son, so Moyle's parents, Diana and Tony, were convinced their son's death scene was phony.

Diana Moyle, interviewed by the Mail on Sunday yesterday, says she spoke to her son on the phone 10 minutes before he is supposed to have died. "He was in good spirits even though he had just got back to discover his room had been ransacked and there were papers scattered everywhere".

Her husband Tony, a retired teacher who died three years ago, investigated his son's death and worked out that he had most likely been suffocated and injected with a lethal substance before being strung up in the wardrobe. According to the Mail on Sunday report, the same view was reached by a coroner who returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

Diana Moyle said yesterday: "My heart goes out to the family of Gareth Williams. Why should they have to hear such cruel untruths being spread about his death?

"Perhaps some would claim it was in the national interest. But we went through exactly the same thing when Jonathan was killed two decades ago. The pain which those lies caused me then and now is unbearable."

Mrs Moyle claims that the Foreign Office official who talked about her son's death at the reception had written to her and husband apologising for his claims which, he said, had been "overheard".

But, said Mrs Moyle, "I know that such things are not accidentally leaked. It is done deliberately."

Scotsman : Further tests aim to reveal how MI6 spy died

Further tests aim to reveal how MI6 spy died

By Rory Reynolds | August 29, 2010

INVESTIGATORS are attempting to determine the exact cause of death of MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams, police said last night.

However, tests to establish whether the 30-year-old was poisoned, drugged or asphyxiated may not be completed until later this week and this will delay attempts to piece together exactly how he died. A post-mortem examination last week proved inconclusive.

Williams was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a bag at his flat in Pimlico, London. A confirmed sighting of Williams, who was on a year-long secondment from GCHQ, was made on 15 August in London, officers said. But police would not say whether the sighting was made on CCTV or came from another source.

The inquiry is being led by the Metropolitan Police's Homicide Command with the support of security-vetted Counter Terror Command unit SO15. In an unusual move, Scotland Yard has denied rumours circulated by the security services about Williams' private life.

Intelligence community sources had claimed Williams was gay, had paraphernalia associated with sado-masochism in his flat and was linked to male escorts. However, police say the claims are unsubstantiated, sparking speculation that elements in the intelligence community have attempted to carry out a smear campaign against Williams.

Daily Record : Death of code-breaker Gareth Williams set to remain mystery for days

Death of code-breaker Gareth Williams set to remain mystery for days

By Bruce Walker | August 29, 2010

CODE-BREAKER spy Gareth Williams’ cause of death will remain a mystery for several more days, police said yesterday.

The complex nature of the tests being carried out mean it could be next week before they can piece together how the maths genius died.

A post-mortem failed to turn up any conclusive evidence on the death of 30-year-old Williams, who worked at the Government spy centre GCHQ and was on secondment to MI6.

He was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a sports holdall in the bath at his Government-owned flat in Pimlico, London.

His family have hit out at claims he could have been involved in risky sexual practices and had links to a male escort.

Officers are examining his mobile phone and financial records for any clues about his personal life.

Scotland Yard yesterday played down reports that thousands of pounds had passed through his bank account shortly before his death as “pure speculation”.

Williams was days away from completing a one-year secondment to MI6 and was set to return to Cheltenham, where GCHQ is based.

Telegraph : Gareth Williams: 'backroom boy' spy was really a high-flier

Gareth Williams: 'backroom boy' spy was really a high-flier

The MI6 worker found dead last week was at the cutting edge of espionage technology, says Gordon Thomas

August 29, 2010

[A British spy who was found dead in the bath of a flat in London was stabbed several times before his body was stuffed into a sports bag where it lay decomposing for up to two weeks.]

The Government Communications Headquarters in Cheltenham is Britain’s last great secret. Now it is in the focus of intense speculation among its stunned staff. Never before has one of their own been murdered. In GCHQ’s cafés, the seating area around the lawn at the core of the doughnut-shaped building and behind anonymous doors simply marked “No admission”, the same question continues to be asked: who murdered Gareth Williams – and why?

Despite his widow’s-peak haircut and geeky smile, he worked at the cutting edge of computer technology. His mathematical brain made him a vital tool in the fight against terrorism and cyber warfare. Yet the security services are anxious to play down his role, so as not to alarm the world over his importance to anyone involved in his murder.

In 2000, Williams left his Cambridge University course in advanced mathematics because he had already learned all he could. By then, he had also been “tapped” – recruited by GCHQ scouts, who tour universities looking for talent.

No one can be certain why he signed up. It wasn’t the salary. His £40,000 a year was far less than he could have earned in industry. But it is very likely that, like so many of his young colleagues at GCHQ, he was attracted by the challenges, the excitement of working at the centre of events that he would often know about before even the Prime Minister.

Being on the inside track would also have fitted his personality. Williams was the quintessential loner. His former landlady, Jenny Elliot, 71, said last week that “his life was his work”. He was exactly what GCHQ would have wanted.

The 30-year-old bachelor loved to go cycling and keep his muscular frame in trim in the GCHQ gym – pursuits of a single man. If he ever visited Cheltenham’s bars or went on dates, he kept such socialising to himself. Within the tight-lipped GCHQ community, he obeyed the law laid down by its director, Iain Lobban, who told his staff when he took over in 2008: “Say nothing to anybody.”

When Williams joined in 2001, he found himself among the largest group of mathematicians gathered within one UK organisation, along with hundreds of cryptologists and analysts. It’s a big operation: the electricity required to run GCHQ’s supercomputers would light a small town. He became part of a world where computers were linked to storage systems, each holding a petabyte of data – eight times more than the entire word count of the British Library. Soon, he found himself working in the Super Computer Centre, developing techniques to speed up data encryption.

A former GCHQ employee recalled last week that staff would boast that when one of its female employees became pregnant, “our computers could capture the first birth cry of her baby and follow the infant through life to its death, no matter where on earth it happened”.

Gareth Williams died without leaving such a trace. Last year, his section leader had told him he was being seconded to the London headquarters of MI6. It was a further sign of his steady progress up the hierarchy at GCHQ.

In 2003, he spent six months at Menwith Hill, the ultra-secret RAF station in Yorkshire. In reality, it is a transplant of the United States; the only connection with Britain is the detachment of Ministry of Defence police that patrols the perimeter.

It was here that Williams learned how to analyse the findings from Menwith Hill’s radomes – the imposing white structures resembling gigantic golf balls that intercept coded messages from satellite communication systems, which are then broken before being sent to GCHQ for further analysis.

In 2006, Williams also spent time at Fort Meade in Maryland, home of the United States’ National Security Agency, GCHQ’s partner in global surveillance. As GCHQ gathers secret intelligence from Europe, Africa and Russia west of the Ural Mountains, NSA covers east of the mountains, including Japan and China, the Pacific and South America. As a new arrival, Williams was invited to listen to recordings of Osama bin Laden talking to his mother on his satellite phone in the aftermath of 9/11.

With his tenure at MI6 coming to an end, Williams was told that he would rejoin GCHQ in a new department, the Cyber Security Operations Centre, a team of traffic analysts tracking the threat posed by would-be cyber terrorists to Britain’s banks and infrastructure. He died before he could take up this promotion.

A further sign of Williams’s importance was that he had been assigned to live at 36 Alderney Street – a high-security apartment in Pimlico that MI6 would have previously used to debrief one of its agents or a defector. Like all safe houses, it was functionally furnished – but with a direct phone line to MI6 headquarters less than a mile away. Williams would have been cautioned about who he was allowed to entertain at home.

In the days since his body was discovered last Monday, conspiracy theorists have filled the internet with claims that Williams had been stabbed and poisoned; that he was the victim of a sex attack; that he was either homosexual or transvestite; that sado-masochistic bondage gear had been found in the flat; that he was murdered because he had threatened to expose a cabal of gays in the intelligence world. All such possibilities are being examined this weekend by MI6 and MI5 working with Scotland Yard detectives.

Investigators have already discounted a theory that Williams was killed elsewhere and brought back to the apartment in the sports bag. But they are investigating whether a second key was cut for the apartment; locksmiths across London are being checked. CCTV footage at nearby Victoria station, as well as other London railway terminals, is under review for images of Williams returning from a recent holiday. He is known to have been back in London since August 11, and that a sighting was made on August 15 – one of the few details police have released.

As well as having trouble gathering evidence, police are finding it difficult to discover the exact nature of Williams’s work. They have been briefed that, despite earlier denials, it “impinged on national security”.

An intelligence officer close to the investigation confirmed: “He was not just a cog in the wheel. He had an important part in making the wheel go round.”

On Tuesday, a second post-mortem will be held: an initial post-mortem proved inconclusive, ruling out stabbing or shooting, with toxicology results still pending. I have been told that the Home Office forensic pathologist will be looking for evidence that Williams was neither stabbed nor poisoned, but smothered to death.

Dr Fawzi Renomran, the London-trained pathologist who conducted the autopsy on the body of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the Hamas terrorist who was killed in Dubai earlier this year, concluded that he had been smothered by a Mossad hit team. “It was a difficult form of murder to prove,” he said.

But, apart from Mossad, there are other intelligence services with experts in murder by smothering. They include the Russian SVR and the Chinese Secret Intelligence Service. Terrorist groups are also known to have used the method.

Until the next autopsy report becomes public, those two key questions – who murdered Gareth Williams, and why? – will continue to echo around GCHQ.

News Of The World : Murder spook had rainbow wig and make-up

Murder spook had rainbow wig and make-up

By Lucy Panton, Crime Editor | August 29, 2010

MURDERED MI6 spy Gareth Williams was found padlocked inside a sports bag with a rainbow wig at his flat, the News of the World can exclusively reveal.

Williams, 31-a brilliant mathematician on secondment to foreign spy service MI6 from eavesdropping base GCHQ-was found dead on Monday, eight days after he was last seen.

It was initially reported that his body had been stuffed in a suitcase.

But we can reveal he was PADLOCKED inside a red North Face sports holdall.

Our revelations today give the first accurate picture of the bizarre circumstances surrounding the death.

The alarm was raised by Williams' worried sister Ceri Subbe after he failed to return her calls.

Officers who arrived at the rented £400,000 top-floor flat in Pimlico, central London, described it as pristinely clean with no sign of disturbance or blood.

They found a number of hair-pieces including a flamboyant rainbow WIG and a MAKE-UP collection.

And in another twist it emerged that cycling fanatic Williams was expected to join friends at a TRANSVESTITE comedy club shortly before his death. Williams' private life is now a major part of the inquiry into his death.

A security source told us: "It is a baffling set of circumstances to find a body in. This man's flat was incredibly clean, not your typical bachelor pad.

"There were a number of wigs and some make-up found which have led to questions over whether he was a cross-dresser. Police found no signs of disturbance or anything to suggest a struggle and it does not appear anything was taken."

Two laptops including an expensive Apple Mac, memory sticks and two iPhones were among valuables still in the flat.

The security source added: "With so many unanswered questions from the scene it is hard to give the family the answers they so desperately want about how their son died."

Police are now probing CCTV footage around the flat, a short distance from MI6's HQ beside the Thames.

The source added: "Until the toxicology tests come back no one can speculate on the cause of death and until they know that they will not class it as a murder."

We can reveal that Mr Williams had a withered hand following a cycling accident.

A relative revealed how his hand was "twisted and damaged" and left him unable to use it properly.

Downing Street, domestic intelligence agency MI5 and Scotland Yard are being kept informed about the case.

Senior Government figures are concerned that someone with so many question marks over his private life could hold a post in which he could be vulnerable to blackmail.

Officers are probing his bank accounts after reports of several deposits of around £2,000. One theory is Williams was a blackmail victim and was transferring money into his account to pay off a tormentor.

Family members have insisted they knew nothing of a gay or cross-dressing lifestyle.

On Friday his parents Ian and Ellen and their family released a statement saying: "Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother and friend."

Daily Mail : GENIUS WHO CRACKED THE TALIBAN'S CODES

GENIUS WHO CRACKED THE TALIBAN'S CODES [scroll down]

By JASON LEWIS AND CHRISTOPHER LEAKE | August 29, 2010

Gareth Williams played a key role in the world’s most sensitive and secretive electronic intelligence gathering system – leading to new fears about the serious national security implications of his death.

Mr Williams was a top-level cryptologist helping to oversee a network called Echelon, which links satellites and super-computers in Britain and the US with those of other key allies.

Set up to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Echelon now eavesdrops on terror suspects and drug dealers, and searches for other political and diplomatic intelligence.

It reputedly intercepts five billion conversations and other forms of communications every day.

Echelon looks for key words and phrases that might suggest, for example, that a terrorist attack is being planned.

Mr Williams’s expertise in his field is reflected by the fact that he had been posted to MI6’s key listening station in Afghanistan, and had been sent to Fort Meade, in Maryland, home of the US National Security Agency.

He is also thought to have visited the NSA cryptology centres at San Antonio, Texas, and at Denver, Colorado.

It is understood Mr Williams was part of a team of maths geniuses trying to adapt the 40-year-old Echelon system to deal with new forms of electronic communications.

According to sources, one of the big issues Mr Williams was working on was how the security and intelligence agencies can monitor internet telephone calls – known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) – such as Skype, which are being used by terrorists and foreign agents to try to circumvent routine eavesdropping on telephone and mobile networks.

It is understood he was also involved in refining the sophisticated algorithms which determine the key words and phrases the system is looking for as it monitors conversations taking place around the world.

Mr Williams’s death is likely to be a major blow to GCHQ’s efforts to crack VOIP.

Two years ago Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees the work of Britain’s spies, revealed: ‘One of the greatest challenges for GCHQ is to maintain its intercept capability in the face of rapidly evolving communications technology.

‘This relates in particular to the growth in internet-based communications and voice over internet telephony.’

The scope of his role was last night reinforced by the revelation that Mr Williams did at least two tours to Afghanistan, helping to break coded Taliban messages.

He was sent to MI6’s station in Kabul twice in 2008, according to Ministry of Defence sources.

His code-breaking work is thought to have helped save the lives of scores of British soldiers under daily attack from insurgents.

Mr Williams would have studied the coded language of Taliban leaders planning to attack British and other NATO patrols and, in some cases, discover the location of those who sent the messages.

Among the favourite warning codes used by insurgents to set up their attacks are ‘big wedding’, ‘getting married’ and ‘birthday party’.

Daily Mail : WHY SHOULD GARETH'S FAMILY HAVE TO HEAR SUCH CRUEL UNTRUTHS?

WHY SHOULD GARETH'S FAMILY HAVE TO HEAR SUCH CRUEL UNTRUTHS? [scroll down]

By SIMON TRUMP | August 29, 2010

The mother of a British spy murdered 20 years ago has criticised the ‘heartless and despicable disinformation’ leaked by MI6 to cover up the truth about his undercover work.

Diana Moyle’s son Jonathan, a former RAF pilot and defence journalist, was assassinated in a hotel bedroom in Chile in 1990. His death was made to look like a sex game which went wrong.

Mrs Moyle spoke out yesterday as the family of Gareth Williams denounced similar false rumours about him using male escorts and keeping gay pornographic material.

She said: ‘My heart goes out to the family of Gareth Williams. Why should they have to hear such cruel untruths being spread about his death? Perhaps some would claim it was in the national interest.

‘But we went through exactly the same thing when Jonathan was killed two decades ago. The pain which those lies caused me then and now is unbearable.

‘My son was a bright, articulate and decent fellow who was proud to serve his country and his reputation was sullied by a series of comments made by a Government official at a reception.

‘He wrote to us apologising for his claims which he said were “overheard” and then printed by journalists but I know that such things are not accidentally leaked. It is done deliberately.’

Jonathan Moyle’s body was found hanging inside a wardrobe with a padded noose around his neck in a hotel in the Chilean capital Santiago. He had been investigating a company owned by arms dealer Carlos Cardoen which was modifiying helicopters, possibly to carry nuclear weapons, to sell to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

A Foreign Office official, believed to be an MI6 source, alleged at an official reception that Moyle had died accidentally while engaged in an auto-erotic act.

But Mrs Moyle’s late husband Anthony, a retired teacher, who died three years ago aged 78, refused to accept his son had killed himself in this manner.

Prior to his own death, Mr Moyle discovered his son was probably drugged, suffocated, injected with a lethal substance – a syringe was found at the scene – and then strung up in the closet. The same view was shared by Richard van Oppen, the coroner for East Devon, where the Moyles lived at the time, who returned a verdict of unlawful killing at his inquest held in 1998.

It was only revealed after Anthony Moyle’s death that Jonathan had been recruited by MI6 while a student at Aberystwyth University.

Mrs Moyle said: ‘I spoke to Jonathan ten minutes before he probably died. He was in good spirits even though he had just got back to discover his room had been ransacked and there were papers scattered everywhere.’

Author Wensley Clarkson, who wrote a best-selling book about the Moyle case, said his death seemed to have been a ‘message’ from his enemies and ‘it certainly looks that way with the Williams case as well’.

He added: ‘The Williams family – just like the Moyles – deserve to be given a proper explanation of why and how Gareth died.’

Daily Mail : Investigation into death of British spy Gareth Williams takes another mystifying turn: What happened to 18K in spy's bank?

Investigation into death of British spy Gareth Williams takes another mystifying turn: What happened to 18K in spy's bank?

* Forensic accountants called in to examine Gareth Williams's bank account
* Detectives question staff at Thames boating club
* Police increasingly frustrated at lack of help from MI6

By Ian Gallagher And Abul Taher | August 29, 2010

The investigation into the death of British spy Gareth Williams took another mystifying turn last night with the claim that £18,000 disappeared from one of his bank accounts two months ago – and cannot be immediately traced.

According to a source close to the invest­igation, forensic accountants have been called in by detectives to try to establish where the money, apparently moved by ‘complex means’, ended up.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that the sum was moved from Mr Williams’s
Barclays online deposit account. It is understood that his salary was paid into a Cheltenham & Gloucester account.

Last night there was no independent confirmation of the claim which, if correct, will inevitably fuel speculation that the 31-year-old cipher and codes specialist may have been blackmailed.

It has been reported that he may have been selling information and was seeking to hide the money, possibly offshore. Scotland Yard declined to comment last night on either allegation.

The source said that police acknowledge it is equally possible that there is an innocent explanation for the money’s disappearance. Mr Williams reportedly led a frugal lifestyle – a passion for cycling apparently dominating his life outside work – and it simply may be that he was an assiduous saver.

Other reports have claimed that three sums of £2,000 were paid into Mr Williams’s bank account on consecutive days and then withdrawn on consecutive days in the weeks before his death.

However, sources suggest that it is likely that these deposits were the £2,000 tax-free monthly allowance the spy received while he was in London on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ, the Government listening post in Cheltenham.

The Mail on Sunday has also been told, meanwhile, that two bundles of cash – £500 in each – were found in the London flat where Mr Williams was found dead last week. One bundle was in an envelope, the other was said to have been bound with an elastic band.

There is nothing to suggest a sinister reason for their presence, but sources say they may be significant because they were left behind. Police would would not comment on this claim last night.

Investigators suspect Mr Williams may have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in Pimlico, where police forensic officers in white protective suits were working yesterday. At 4pm they took away two bags of evidence.

'He also said that the Government met his rent, that’s how he could afford to live in Pimlico. He was a loner.’

In another intriguing development, The Mail on Sunday has been told that police have been making inquiries about another GCHQ worker who used to live in the same flat. They are said to be examining CCTV footage taken from a boating club this man belonged to on the Thames, near MI6 headquarters.

Detectives visited the Westminster Boating Base, which helps children learn sailing and kayaking, two days after Mr Williams’ body was found – and interviewed its manager Kevin Burk for more than an hour. They also looked at video of sailing trips which the man went on. It is believed that the detectives may have taken some of the recordings with them for further analysis.

Detectives then called Mr Burk the following day, interviewing him for another hour by telephone. They gave him strict orders not to talk to the Press or the public. It is understood he was asked detailed questions about the former colleague of Mr Williams, who The Mail on Sunday has agreed not to name. The man is thought to have moved out of the flat six months ago.

Neighbour Stephen Barnes, who first met the man two years ago, said: ‘This chap told me he worked for the civil service, in the technology side. He also said that the Government met his rent, that’s how he could afford to live in Pimlico. He was a loner.’

Mr Barnes, who runs a medical supplies company from his home, was also interviewed and detectives asked him to supply all the information he had on the man.

The investigation into Mr Williams’s death has been beset from the outset by a number of difficulties, including claims of a frustrating lack of help from MI6, and unexplained avenues of inquiry.

But the biggest problem faced so far has been the failure to discover how Mr Williams died.

‘We can’t even say for sure that he was murdered,’ said a Scotland Yard spokesman.

The results of a post mortem are not expected for at least another week. And while he was last seen on August 15 in London – and was found in his flat eight days later – it is not known exactly when he died.

‘This has had the effect of elongating the inquiry,’ said a police source.

‘For one thing it means that there is much more CCTV to go through. Everything is taking a lot of time.’

While Scotland Yard has been reluctant to comment on aspects of the crime scene, it strongly refuted suggestions that ‘bondage equipment and gay paraphernalia’ were found in the flat.

‘Those reports are garbage,’ said a spokesman, who also dismissed suggestions that gay contact magazines were found. But he declined to comment on various claims about Mr Williams’s private life, including suggestions that he was gay and a cross-dresser.

Last night his family were said to be ‘furious’ that officers investigating his killing had allowed false claims of a wild homosexual lifestyle to gather momentum, with his parents Ian and Ellen feeling ‘let down’ by the failure to scotch the speculation sooner.

Mr Williams’s uncle, William Hughes, said: ‘Gareth’s name and reputation were being destroyed by these horrible and completely fictitious accounts of his private life.’

After Scotland Yard dismissed the allegations, Mr Hughes said: ‘Of course we are relieved – hugely relieved – that these statements have finally been put out by the police, but what took them so long?

‘The police have known since his body was first found that there was none of this material at the scene. They knew how painful it was for the family to read these untrue, salacious accounts . . . they could have stamped on the speculation on day one, but chose not to. It was devastating for our family to have to read these details about Gareth. It was not the Gareth we knew.

‘To the best of our knowledge, Gareth was not gay and he has never had any interest in the things that were said about him. We hope the denials from the police will now end the speculation.’

Sydney Morning Herald : Family of dead spy furious at smears

Family of dead spy furious at smears

August 29, 2010

LONDON: The family of the British spy murdered in London have attacked ''completely false'' smears about his private life.

As police focused inquiries on Gareth Williams's close friends and associates, it was disclosed that the MI6 worker's parents were ''furious'' about claims that he had a double life.

His family suggested that reports he was homosexual or a cross-dresser were part of a deliberate campaign of misinformation designed to distract attention from the facts of the case.
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Police dismissed reports of bondage equipment being found in the London flat where the body of Mr Williams, 31, (pictured) was discovered, along with claims that his mobile phone contained numbers for male escorts.

Detectives began a second forensic sweep of the crime scene.

The question police are trying to clarify is why the killer ''or a partner'' placed Mr Williams's body in a large sports bag in the bath.

Police are working on the assumption that it is a murder but have not ruled out that Mr Williams could have died in a bizarre accident or from an accidental drugs overdose.

Mr Williams's parents, Ellen and Ian, who live in Holyhead, Wales, were said to be ''absolutely devastated'' and ''raw with emotion''.

William Hughes, the victim's uncle, said they were also ''very, very angry'' about reports of secrets in his private life.

''It is completely false,'' Mr Hughes said. ''The lad had been away from home for a long time. We did not know much about his private life but it has never crossed any of our minds that he could be gay.''

The body of the agent, who worked for the Government Communications Headquarters listening station in Cheltenham and was on secondment to MI6, was found by police on Monday.

An autopsy was inconclusive.

Island Crisis [Mauritius] : Police officials say reports that dead MI6 official was secretly gay appear to be wrong, possible professional hit

Police officials say reports that dead MI6 official was secretly gay appear to be wrong, possible professional hit

BNO NEWS | August 29, 2010

LONDON (BNO NEWS) – Police officials on Sunday said that claims that the MI6 intelligence official who was found dead and stuffed in a bag died because of his secretly gay life and his fetish for extreme bondage were false and likely part of a smear campaign to detract from his life as an intelligence official, the Guardian reported.

Police said that they did find bondage equipment at Gareth Williams residence but there was evidence of a break-in. Earlier reports of sim cards arranged in a “ritualistic” fashion were untrue, according to police. Police who found the body said that his death was “a neat job,” leading to speculation that he was killed in a professional hit.

Claims that the 31-year-old intelligence officer from MI6 was secretly gay appear to be wrong, according to a police dispatch. His family claims that he is the victim of a smear campaign to deflect attention from his work as a code-cracker or a cipher. He was last seen alive on August 15, eight days before his body was found. Police found no mess and no sign of a struggle.

A pathologist has been unable to find a cause of death, toxicology reports will determine if he was poisoned or if there was alcohol and drugs involved. There were previous claims that he was killed by someone he knew after thousands of pounds were paid into and withdrawn from a bank account in the days leading up to his death, but Police said those claims are “pure speculation”.

Williams was known to be very private, but a mathematical prodigy, he studied at Bangor University for a degree at 13. He emerged with first class honors. He regularly traveled to the United States where it’s understood that he worked at the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade in Maryland. The NSA is the U.S. government’s listening post and largest intelligence agency in the world.

He was sent to MI6’s station in Kabul where he was to help break codes used by the Taliban. He was transferred to the MI6 last year on temporary assignment.

Mirror : Was MI6 spy Gareth Williams poisoned?

Was MI6 spy Gareth Williams poisoned?

By Justin Penroe | August 29, 2010

Detectives hunting the killer of MI6 spy Gareth Williams were last night working on the theory he was poisoned.

In a new twist to an investigation which has so far baffled murder squad detectives, tests have revealed there were no signs of violence on his body, and no signs he had taken part in any sexual activity.

The results add weight to theories that maths genius Mr Williams, 30, was targeted because of his job as a code breaker with GCHQ. Detectives have ordered a toxicology test to look for traces of poison in his bloodstream. The results are not expected for at least another week, but officers fear he was ­murdered like former KGB agent ­Alexander Litvinenko – whose tea was spiked with poison. Another possibility being considered is that Mr Williams was either drugged or died of a drug overdose in his Central London flat.

His body was discovered stuffed in a sports bag at the flat on ­Monday.

Mr Williams had been working for MI6 on a one-year posting but was due to return to his regular job at the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham at the start of next month.

A police source said: “Until we get the toxicology results it is a mystery how he died, but poisoning because of his work is a distinct possibility.”

Independent : MI6 death: Murder most strange

MI6 death: Murder most strange

Jonathan Owen tries to determine the facts about the death of intelligence officer Gareth Williams, and asks experts for their views on a real-life spy mystery

Jonathan Owen | August 29, 2010

The Metropolitan Police were under mounting pressure last night to bring in counter-terrorism officers to investigate the death of Gareth Williams, the British intelligence officer whose decomposing body was found stuffed in a sports bag in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, last Monday.

Officers from the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command are understood to be furious at being stonewalled by Britain's secretive intelligence agencies. Detectives claim to have been "blocked" from interviewing potentially crucial witnesses, such as Mr Williams's "best friend", a female colleague at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), who was posted to the US last month.

Counter-terrorism officers are security vetted, which would make it harder for intelligence agencies to withhold information on the grounds of security clearance, say detectives. "It's a big cover-up... The security services obviously don't want the police to pry too deeply," said a police source.

It emerged yesterday that police are investigating three sums of £2,000 paid into Mr Williams's account on consecutive days, and then withdrawn on consecutive days, with the last transaction on the eve of his killing. The money trail has heightened concerns that his death may present a national security risk. Mr Williams was on secondment to MI6 from GCHQ and was a regular visitor to the US National Security Agency HQ, Fort Meade.

His murder is unprecedented in that it took place just a short walk from MI6 and has seen a police investigation undertaken amid a frenzy of public speculation. Even the basic fact that he was murdered has yet to be officially confirmed, with a post mortem failing to discover the cause of death, despite reports he had been stabbed and found dumped in a sports bag in his bath. Police will only describe it as a "suspicious and unexplained death", and tests are under way to establish how the 30-year-old mathematician from Anglesey died. The results are expected this week. And after initially claiming he had been dead for two weeks before his body was found, police said on Friday that he had been in London from 11 August, with the last sighting of him on 15 August.

Mr Williams's family hit out yesterday at speculation in some newspapers that he was a cross-dressing homosexual who may have been killed by a gay lover. His uncle, William Hughes, said: "The family are concerned it may be an attempt to put false, unkind details about Gareth's private life into the public domain to diminish him and take attention away from the security services he worked so loyally for."

Sir Paul Lever, Former chair of Joint Intelligence Committee

"If you want to dispel a suggestion that something is work-related, you inevitably imply it's to do with the person's non-work life... ergo their private life, so you end up perhaps implying things that may distress his family. I would be very surprised if his employers were deliberately setting out to smear him."

Annie Machon, Former MI5 agent

"The trouble is that it's so murky at the moment. It could be misdirection ... towards some sort of sexual thing that went wrong. But there's also the fact that he was working on secure communications... the SIM cards and telephone laid out indicate the killer was aware of where he worked and was letting people know that."

Mark Birdsall, Editor 'Eye Spy' magazine

"The fact that he was in a holdall is a classic indication that the body was going to be moved. There's something not quite right here, but I think the story is being created to give the ordinary man in the street the opinion, 'well, he was involved in some sort of lovers' tiff'... I think the whole background about Mr Williams is being manipulated, possibly to disguise what he was up to, which is natural. You put out a cover story to disguise the real operation."

David Wilson, Professor of Criminology, University of Central England

"In the vast majority of murders you don't look for a Hollywood motive, you look for the most banal motive – the most banal motives are love, rage, and jealousy... I'm absolutely convinced with virtually every serious crime I've been involved with that there's a great deal of misinformation... when one talks to press officers of any government agency they have a line that they try to feed."

'John Smith', A former head of GCHQ

"This is first and foremost a personal tragedy. Clearly it's unwelcome that it is someone working for the intelligence services who might have been working for anyone else, and it isn't yet clear quite what the ramifications beyond that might be. People are going spare [at GCHQ/MI6] because there is a public relations crisis to handle. As a precautionary measure, they will be looking at how much this chap knew and how much he could have communicated to anyone."

Rupert Allason, Espionage author & former Tory MP

"The only security concern regarding Gareth Williams's death would be if there was evidence that classified information had been compromised. Doubtless SIS and GCHQ security staff are pursuing those lines and a search of his flat and laptop would be top of the list. In the absence of any indication that there had been a breach of security there would not appear to be any other issues, apart perhaps from one: which police officer tipped off the media to the link with Vauxhall Cross?"

Prof Anthony Glees, Director, Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, University of Birmingham

"I don't think he would have been murdered because of what he knew but because of his private life. If his private life brought him into contact with someone who went on to kill him, he was a risk-taker... If you do risky things, you may not be blackmailable but you may still be a security risk because your risk-taking may bring you into contact with people who might try to exploit this trait to get secrets out of you."

James Bamford, Author of three bestsellers on the US national security agency (NSA)

"Rather than a 'spy' in the James Bond sense of the word, he was far more likely a routine cryptanalyst. It is also very unlikely, especially given his sexual interests, that there is any foreign intelligence involvement in his death. Those things happen in the movies but rarely in real life. Nevertheless, I'm sure there is a very intense investigation, both at the NSA and GCHQ, into what accesses Williams had, his travels and his telephone, email and internet communications."

Stephen Dorril, Intelligence expert University of Huddersfield

"GCHQ has been sending people into the field in Afghanistan to monitor communications; they have small units of personnel who are doing field work instead of just being behind the desk, so they have obviously been working closely with MI6."

Nicholas Anderson, Former MI6 agent and author

"My first gut thought was that he couldn't have been a high-security risk as it took nearly two weeks for the FCO [Foreign & Commonwealth Office] employee assistance head to follow up on why he hadn't been at work. Granted, he may have had a job where he worked alone so he didn't have to report in, but most lone operators, like I used to be, report to somebody on a timely basis regardless."

Roger Graef, Broadcaster and criminologist

"The one thing we won't know is the truth. This is in the category of iconic crimes, when you don't ever expect to be told the real thing, and there are just too many reasons to keep it secret... None of it adds up: if he was such a hot shot at code breaking then presumably he'd have been protected... We are very unlikely to ever know what happened."

Prof Martin Innes, Director of the universities' police science institute at cardiff university

"If they've stuck him in a bag ready to be moved, if that was what happened, then that suggests someone a bit more intent on what it is they're trying to do... If the individual concerned is out there and dismembering the body, there's something else going on. But until we know that it's pretty difficult to say anything useful."

Michael Smith, Author of 'Six: A history of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service'

"No conversation I have had with anyone genuine within the intelligence community has given any information on this guy that would be any use in building up a picture of him other than off-the-record confirmation that he was a GCHQ employee who has been on attachment to MI6."