New York Times : Body Found in London May Be Intelligence Officer

Body Found in London May Be Intelligence Officer

By RAVI SOMAIYA | August 25, 2010

LONDON — A body found stuffed into a large sports bag in a bathtub at an apartment here was identified Wednesday in British news reports as that of a missing intelligence officer, prompting much speculation about his identity and the details behind his death.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said that officers found the body on Monday afternoon after investigating reports that the man, identified in news reports as Gareth Williams, 31, had not been seen for some time.

The bag was in a bathroom in the top floor of the man’s apartment, in London’s well-appointed Pimlico neighborhood, less than a mile from the imposing headquarters of Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6.

The police spokesman said an autopsy was being conducted and detectives were “following up several lines of inquiries,” but he declined to provide additional details.

A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which oversees the intelligence agency, would not discuss the reports that the man had worked for British intelligence.

British news reports said that the man had been stabbed repeatedly and may have been dead for two weeks before he was found.

The police continued to search the apartment and cordoned off the street, home to two former leaders of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard and Leon Brittan. Neighbors told reporters that the windows to the top floor flat were always shut, and the curtains drawn.

“We haven’t ever seen him,” said one local resident, Rob Mills. “It’s not like you’d tell your neighbors if you were a spy.”