Mirror : Cops have to solve it quick

Cops have to solve it quick

By Crispin Black | August 26, 2010

James Bond spends much of his time avenging fellow spooks killed by the bad guys.

But back in the real world it has always been rare for British spies to die of anything other than natural causes.

Neverthless, the murder of Gareth Williams will have sent shudders through the intelligence establishment. Senior officers from all three intelligence services will be urgently reviewing the facts assisted by policemen from Scotland Yard, specially vetted to allow them access to secret intelligence.

There are two main possibilities. The first is that the murder was connected in some way to the victim's intelligence work - the Russians are up to their old tricks or a terrorist organisation has somehow been able to target GCHQ personnel.

More likely is that the murder was connected to Mr Williams's life. He was murdered by someone he knew. This after all is what happens to most victims. There is a chance he may have been a victim of random violence. Whatever happened, the authorities need to get to the bottom of the matter fast. Given that Mr Williams had a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Cambridge University it is clear that he was a codebreaker. His body remained undiscovered possibly for a fortnight - we need to be sure that national security has not been compromised.