Express : OUR MURDERED SPY SON WAS NOT GAY – THIS IS A SMEAR, SAYS HIS FAMILY

OUR MURDERED SPY SON WAS NOT GAY – THIS IS A SMEAR, SAYS HIS FAMILY

By John Twomey and Padraic Flanagan | August 28, 2010

THE FAMILY of murdered British spy Gareth Williams hit out yesterday at the Government for ­running a “dirty tricks” campaign to blacken the MI6 agent’s name.

Ellen and Ian Williams, his parents, are outraged by allegations surrounding their son’s private life, including claims he was gay, a transvestite or a sadomasochist.

“It is completely false,” said ­William Hughes, the codebreaker’s uncle, after he visited the parents in Holyhead, in north Wales where they are trying to come to terms with their son’s murder. They are very, very angry,” he 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.

“It’s not the picture they have of their son,” added Mr Hughes, 62. "Maybe it’s the Government or somebody trying to discredit him.”

Williams, 31, a gifted mathematician, was on secondment to MI6 from his regular job as a codebreaker at the Government’s listening post, GCHQ, when he was found dead in a sports bag in the bath of his flat on Monday. Scotland Yard detectives are investigating whether the bachelor lived a secret double life.

However, sources close to the inquiry dismissed reports that bondage gear and sadomasochistic equipment had been found alongside gay pornography at Mr William’s flat in Pimlico, central London.

It was also claimed Mr Williams had links to a male escort. People who knew the cycling enthusiast said he never gave any indication of being homosexual. A former landlord, who rented a flat to him for 10 years, never saw him bring anyone – male or female – back to his home.

Mr Hughes added: “I have ­spoken to Gareth’s parents and they are not doing well at all. They are struggling to come to terms with what has happened. They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths. It never crossed my mind that Gareth was that sort of person. He left home at a young age and what happened in his private life was his business.”

CIA agents are also looking into Mr William’s private life on frequent trips to the US.

He flew to America up to four times a year to work for the National Security Agency, the US government’s electronic eavesdropping centre in Maryland.