AFP : Police conduct tests in MI6 death probe

Police conduct tests in MI6 death probe

August 25, 2010

LONDON — Police investigating the suspicious death of an MI6 officer in London are to carry out further tests after a post-mortem proved inconclusive.

Detectives said the body of the Gareth Williams, 30, was found on Monday in the top-floor flat of an upmarket building within walking distance of the MI6 headquarters on the River Thames.

His decomposing remains were found stuffed in a bag in the bath of the property in Pimlico, where they were thought to have lain for up to a fortnight, reports said.

A post-mortem examination late Wednesday failed to establish a cause of death and further tests, including for drugs and alcohol, will now take place, police said. News media reported there was no evidence he had been stabbed, contradicting earlier reports.

Williams, who was from Anglesey, had worked for GCHQ, the government's communication monitoring centre, but was on secondment with MI6, according to media reports.

His mobile phone and a number of SIM cards were carefully laid out in the flat in Alderney Street when his body was found.

"Officers from the homicide and serious crime command are investigating, and are treating this as a suspicious and unexplained death," said a statement from London's Metropolitan Police.

Police said they visited the flat after reports that the occupant had not been seen for some time.

The road remained cordoned off Wednesday and curtains were drawn in the flat where the body was believed to have been found.

Eileen Booth, 73, who lives opposite the building where the body was found, said detectives had been visiting neighbours as part of their investigation, adding: "They said this probably happened two weeks ago."

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